


Happy Campers

by LilAnnieSunshine



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, F/M, Summer Camp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2020-03-09 10:33:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18915187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilAnnieSunshine/pseuds/LilAnnieSunshine
Summary: Naruto Summer Camp AU that no one asked for.Naruto & friends have gone to Camp Hidden Leaf for as long as they can remember.But this year is different, this is the first year they're with the teen group.This is really just a light hearted, nostalgia trip.





	1. On The Road Again

**Author's Note:**

> Here's how it works: 
> 
> Everyone's parents (if they're mentioned at all in the series) are alive and well. Karin & Naruto are cousins. 
> 
> Schools: All of the Leaf Village kids, minus Sasuke go to the same public school. Sasuke & the sound village kids go to a military-style boarding school ran by an eccentric weirdo. All the Suna kids go to a private school. Karui, Omoi, & Fuu all go to a small public school that's farther away. 
> 
> Ages: The rookie 9, Karin, Suigetsu, Gaara & Matsuri are all 13 years old. Team Gai, Karui, Omoi, & Shiho are all 14. Kankuro, Juugo, The sound genin, and Sound 4 are all 15. Temari, Fuu, and Kimimaro are all 16. Kabuto, Itachi, and Hana are 18 and junior counselors. The 13 & 14 year olds are one age group and the 15 & 16 year olds are another. The teachers are all their canon ages in part 1, and are counselors. 
> 
> I'll add tags as things go on.

“Naruto, they’re here.” Kushina called to him as she finished throwing Naruto’s camping gear into the car.

            “Karin!” Naruto called out, rushing over to hug his cousin.

            Karin let out a gasp as Naruto picked her up in a bear hug, twirling her around. “Put me down, you big goofball!” She said, trying to wiggle free.

            “Sorry, Karin. I’m just so happy you get to go to camp with me this year.” Naruto put her down.

            “Well, the brochure certainly made it look lovely.” Said Kaori. “Hey, sis.” She turned her attention to Kushina, giving her a hug.

            “Naruto, have you said ‘hi’ to Aunt Kaori yet?”

            Naruto ran over and hugged his Aunt. “Can we go now?”

            “Nice to see you too, Naruto.” Said Kaori, laughing at his impatience.

            “It’s all he’s talked about for weeks,” started Kushina. “Thanks for driving with us.” She said getting the family in the car.

            “Thanks for inviting Karin. She needs to be around some _other_ kids.”

            “What do you mean _other_ kids?” asked Naruto.

            “Don’t get her started.” Karin rolled her eyes.

            “I enrolled Karin in that military academy she wanted to got to,” started Kaori mostly to her sister. “A lot of the kids are hyper-focused on their passions, and the kids who aren’t need the…structure.”

            “Well, I like structure,” started Karin. “And I’m taking advanced biology courses and they’ll look great on a college application.”

            “If I didn’t agree with you going, I wouldn’t have signed the entrance papers. I know you’ll do great things there, but there is something odd about a school that won’t let you call your child unless there’s an emergency.”

            “You can’t call her, in this day and age?” asked Kushina.

            “No, I can only write her letters. The phone is for emergencies only.” Explained Kaori. “At least her handwriting is getting better.”

            “Mom!” Karin said embarrassed.

            Naruto laughed.

            “I don’t know what you’re laughing about.” Karin hit Naruto playfully. “You write me once a week and your handwriting hasn’t gotten any better.”

            “Well, I’ll have plenty of time to practice. Camp Hidden Leaf doesn’t allow phones either.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

            Hinata and Neji stood awkwardly outside their estate, waiting on their respective rides.

            Hinata desperately wanted to break the silence, but Neji shot her a glare every time she tried.

            Finally, her ride showed up: Sakura and her dad.

            “Hey, Hinata!” Sakura called out, then looked over at Neji confused. “Are we giving your cousin a ride too?”

            Hinata didn’t know what to say, all Neji told her was that he “had a ride,” no additional details. She didn’t even know if it was true or if he made it up to get her dad off of his back. She opened her mouth to speak but Neji interrupted.

            “I’m riding with Lee and Tenten, apparently Counselor Gai has room.”

            “Gai as in our gym teacher? I didn’t know he was a counselor.” Said Sakura, dreading any interaction with him. He was nice enough, but he acted like every gym class was an Olympic event.

            “He’s a counselor for the teens. Since this is your first year with the teen group, I wouldn’t expect you to know that.” Said Neji, like he was still looking down on her for not knowing.

            “Good to know.” Said Sakura shortly. “Nice seeing you.”

            Neji didn’t reply as Hinata and Sakura drove off.

            “He seems like a great guy.” Said Kizashi, not kidding, not even a little.

            “Um…thanks, Mr. Haruno.” Said Hinata, even though her cousin was one of the meanest people she ever met.

            “You can call me Kizashi.” He smiled back at the girls. “So, are you excited to see Sasuke at camp?”

            “What?” asked Hinata, not knowing what Sasuke had to do with anything.

            “Dad!” Sakura yelled out.

            “What? All you and Ino talked about all week is how Sasuke might be coming to camp this year.”

            “Doesn’t he go every year?” asked Hinata. She knew Sakura (and half of her class) was in love with Sasuke, but she still didn’t understand why him going to camp was such a big deal.

            “He used to,” started Sakura, “But he also used to go to our school and live in our town and now he goes to that military boarding school and we never see him.”

            “That’s right.” Hinata hadn’t really noticed Sasuke’s absence. The only times she noticed is when she saw how sad it made everyone, especially Naruto. “I hope Naruto gets to spend a lot of time with him.”

            Sakura laughed. “Me too. Well, maybe not too much time, I’d like to see Sasuke too. I wonder who can distract Naruto for me.” Sakura winked.

            Hinata blushed and changed the subject. “Thanks for giving me a ride, if you didn’t, Father would probably insist I go with Neji and –“

            “Neji wouldn’t want his little cousin hanging out with his friends?” Asked Sakura with an eye roll. “We’re only one year younger than him and he treats us like babies. I never have any trouble with Lee and Tenten.”

            “You know them?” asked Hinata. Neji never talked about his personal life.

            “Isn’t Lee the boy who keeps asking you out?” said Kizashi.

            “Private conversation, Dad! And he hasn’t done that in weeks.” Sakura turned her attention back to Hinata. “In seventh grade, Lee asked me out after a track meet. I had never actually met him, but he knew who I was because I was taking an eighth grade science course. It was kind of weird, but he’s nice enough. Speaking of that science course, Tenten was my lab partner for a little bit until the teacher made everyone switch. She’s easy to work with: funny, down to earth and hard working.”

            “I see.” It was hard for Hinata to imagine these people brought any joy to Neji.

            xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

            “Neji!!!” Lee screamed out the window of Gai’s car.

            Neji bristled. “Calm down, you’ll wake the entire neighborhood.”

            “If they aren’t awake by now, they need it,” Started Gai. “It’s almost 9:00 AM.”

            “It’s a Saturday.” Said Tenten rolling her eyes from the backseat.

            “They’re wasting their youth.” Reflected Gai, knowing absolutely nothing about anyone who lived in the neighborhood or their ages.

            “I see.” Said Neji shortly. “Can you unlock the door now? We should get going. _Sakura’s dad_ beat you here.”

            Gai knew very little about Sakura, and absolutely nothing about her father. Still he took it as a challenge to beat them to their final destination. “Hurry up and get in, Neji.”

            Neji rolled his eyes and sat down in the back next to Tenten.

            “You look like a happy camper.” She smiled, completely kidding.

            “You have no idea.” Neji said settling in next to her.

            “Oh, are you not looking forward to seeing Ino again?”

            “For the last time, Tenten, she doesn’t have a crush on me. She was flirting with me to get information.”

            “What kind of information?” laughed Tenten.

            “I don’t know. Stupid teen girl gossip. I don’t even remember what she asked.”

            “Well, speaking of stupid teen girl gossip, you’re free. She has a crush on that exchange student now.”

            “First of all, I was never taken. Second and finally, I don’t care.”

            xxxxxxxxxxxx

            “How are you still not packed?” Shikamaru groaned at Ino as she threw a bunch of clothes on her bed.

            “Because, this is the first time Sai is going to see me outside of school. I need to make an impression. Besides, Choji told me you didn’t pack until this morning either.”

            “Yeah, but I just throw 2 weeks worth of shorts, t-shirts, socks and underwear in a duffle bag. You have your entire wardrobe on your bed.”

            “You never know what you’re going to need. Now help me pick out an outfit for today.”

            “We’re riding in the car. What’s wrong with what you have on?”

            Ino gestured to her outfit: a pair of basketball shorts and an old t-shirt of her dads.

            “And?” asked Shikamaru.

            “You’re hopeless. This is the outfit I use to do chores in. I’d never let anyone see me in this.”

            “You’re letting us see you in it.” Said Shikamaru, gesturing to Choji who was sitting on Ino’s floor, hiding his snacks in his duffle bag.

            “Anyone of consequence.” Ino specified. She picked up a light-purple tank top and white shorts. She walked into her closet and changed before coming out and modeling her outfit choice. “What do you think?” She said spinning around.

            Shikamaru elbowed Choji.

            “It’s fine.” Shikamaru said.

            “You look really pretty!” Choji said, meaning it.

            “Thank you, Choji.” Ino smiled. She started folding all of her clothes neatly and placing them in her duffle bag. “Shikamaru, would you be a dear and help me out?”

            “What a drag.” Shikamaru said, but helped anyway.

            “Ino, do you have any extra room to hide these candy bars?” Said Choji from the floor.

            “I’ll see what I can do.” She grabbed them and hid them in her toiletry bag.

            “Maybe you can fit it in your duffle bag if you lose this third ball gown.” Shikamaru said holding up a dress.

            “It’s not a ball gown, it’s a cocktail dress. Besides, you never know.”

            Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

            “I can’t believe this is happening.” Said Inoichi.

            “She just offered the boy a ride, relax.” Said Shikaku.

            “And she’s always spending time with Choji and Shikamaru. They’ll take care of her if the boy causes trouble. ” said Choza.

            “Trouble?” asked Inoichi. “What trouble?”

            “There won’t be any trouble.” Said Shikaku, elbowing Choza.

            “She’s too young to be riding in a car with a boy.” Inoichi said.

            “She’s riding with the 3 of us, and our kids. I don’t think that’s really ‘riding in a car with a boy.’” Pointed out Shikaku. “It’s not like they’ll be alone.”

            “They might be at camp.” Inoichi stressed.

            “They’ll be surrounded by other kids and counselors. She’ll be fine.”

            They heard a knock on the door. On the other side was a boy with a creepy smile.

            “You must be Sai.” Said Inoichi. He was handsome, even he could tell, but he had a creepy smile, a smile that hid true intentions.

            “Nice to meet you, Mr. Yamanaka.” Sai kept smiling and reached out his hand to shake Inoichi’s.

            Inoichi gave a firm handshake, which Sai returned. It was stronger than Inoichi thought it would be.

            “Ino, your friend is here.” Shikaku called, trying not to prolong Inoichi and Sai’s time alone.

            Ino squealed from upstairs and started toward the door.

            Shikamaru caught her arm. “Aren’t you forgetting a jacket? What if you get cold.”

            “I’m not forgetting anything. If I get cold, I can ask Sai for his.” Ino grabbed her duffle bag and ran out the door.

            Shikamaru sighed, went into her closet and grabbed her favorite hoodie out of her closet. It was black and purple striped and she thought she heard Sasuke complimenting it one time, maybe. Shikamaru didn’t believe it, but he let her dream.

            Choji looked at him quizzically. “But she said –“

            “There’s no guarantee, and if she gets cold, she’s not borrowing mine.”

            Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

            “Kiba, get your ass down here! Shino got here 30 minutes ago and your sister is already ready to go.” Tsume yelled at her son.

            “I’m coming Mom.” Said Kiba running down the stairs, half dressed with his duffle bag still open.

            “I told you to pack last night!”

            “I was busy last night!”

            “Doing what?” questioned Shino, who was sitting at the kitchen table having tea with Hana.

            “Stuff.” Kiba said defensively.

            “You’re always doing stuff.” Tsume barked at Kiba.

            “Whatever, I’m here now, can we just go?”

            “I’ll get the car started.” Said Hana as she walked out the door, tired of the fighting.

            Tsume let out a heavy sigh. “Shino, keep him in line.”

            “Will do Ms. Inuzuka.” Shino replied.

            “Thank you, Shino.”

            Kiba growled at his mother and she growled back as he walked out the door.

            “Do you kiss your mother with that –“ started Shino.

            “SHUT UP SHINO!”

            “You two better behave or –“ started Hana.

            “No problem, Ms. Hana.” Shino cut her off.

            “Just ‘Hana’ is fine, Shino.” Said Hana, shutting herself in the car as Kiba and Shino put their bags in the trunk.

            “How long are you going to keep up this crush on my sister?” asked Kiba, grossed out.

            “As long as she’s this wonderful.” Shino sighed out.

            “You’re the weirdest guy I know.”

            “And yet, here we are, on the way to camp, riding together, same as every year.”

            Xxxxxxxxxxxx

            “So how’s school?” asked Itachi.

            He was met by silence from his front seat passenger.

            “Okay, I guess we’re playing the quiet game. You can win if you want, Sasuke. I don’t care.”

            “Hmph.” Sasuke grunted, staring out the window.

           

           

           

           


	2. Cabin Assignments

Gai’s car came barreling through the woods, going as fast as it could on the dirt road.

            “Yee-haw!” Yelled Gai, taking the curves fast.

            “Yee-haw!” Lee shouted with joy in the front passenger seat.

            Meanwhile, Neji and Tenten were holding on for dear life in the back seat. Neji had both hands on the seat. Tenten had one hand on the seat and the other was clinging to Neji.

            “You might want to slow down!” Neji yelled at Gai.

            “No way. No one is beating us to camp.” Gai said, going even faster.

            “Who would beat us? I haven’t seen a car in miles.” Tenten clung tighter to Neji.

            Finally, Gai skidded to a halt in the camp drop off. “You go ahead and go to your assignments. I need to park.”

            “Do _you_ know who our counselors are this year, Counselor Gai?” asked Lee.

            “I can’t tell you that before camp officially starts.” Said Gai with a sly smile. “But, I think you’ll be pleased to find out who you’re with this year.” Gai held back happy tears.

            Lee started crying too as Gai sped off.

            “So, we’re with Gai then.” Said Neji.

            “We don’t know that!” Lee said, not wanting to get his hopes up.

            “He made it obvious –“

            Lee held a finger to Neji’s lips. “You’ll jinx it!”

            Neji’s brow furrowed. After hours in the car with Lee, he was about done with the shenanigans.

            Tenten stepped in between them. “Okay, guys. I still don’t know who my counselor is so, lets go find out.”

            Tsunade sat bored at the sign-in table. She didn’t even know why she was out so early, most campers didn’t arrive until noon at least. It was 11:30. The only solace was Jiraiya and Orochimaru seemed equally as miserable.

            “Tsunade,” Jiraiya started, very seriously.

            “Yes?” He snapped her out of her daze. She wondered what he was so focused on.

            “How does this sound ‘Bunking With The Enemy?’ It’s a romance novel about a man who infiltrates an all women’s camp –“

            “Adults don’t go to summer camp.” She deadpanned. “They _are_ adults right?”

            Jiraiya brought his hand to his mouth, mocking a scandalized face. “Of course I’m talking about adults. They’ll be counselors then.” He wrote it down in a notebook.

            “Look, if you’re not up to helping me run this camp…for _children_ –“

            “Tsunade, I’m great with kids. You’re forgetting, I’m the principal of Forest Hills Middle School.

            “And how you got that job, I’ll never know.”

            “It’s cause you didn’t want it.” Orochimaru finally spoke.

            Tsunade laughed.

            “Hey!” Jiraiya yelled.

            “For the record, Orochimaru. I don’t know how you became a school principal either.”

            “I’m not a principal, Tsunade.” He gave her a creepy smile. “I’m a headmaster.”

            “We’re all just glorified babysitters if you ask me. So why are you here? I know Jiraiya, is doing...research.”

            Jiraiya looked up from his notes and gave her a thumbs up.

            “I told you,” Orochimaru started answering her question. “I’m offering my students extra credit if they do something productive with their summer… like learning new skills at summer camp.”

            “I don’t believe you, but I also don’t have any grounds to block you from this camp.”

            “Camp Director Tsundade!” Tenten sprinted ahead of her companions, ready to see the camp director she admired so much.

            The cheerful voice called Tsunade out of her conversation. “Look alive, the kids are here.” She said to Orochimaru and Jiraiya. “Hello, Tenten! You’re going to sign in with Orochimaru over there. He’s assisting me this summer. He’s in charge of the T’s.”

            “Okay…” Tenten was wary of the odd, pale man with the creepy smile.

            Lee and Neji, made their way over. Neji went over to the “A-I” desk and was surprised to see someone familiar. “Principal Jiraiya?” Neji asked confused.

            “Hey, kid.” Jiraiya smiled, all poker face. He had no idea who this kid was. “Good to see you.”

            Neji saw through his bluff, but didn’t call him out. “Likewise. This is just a formality, but my last name is Hyuuga.”

            “You’re with Gai and Kakashi.”

            Neji heard a yell from the desk next to him. “I’m with Counselor Gai again! Woohoo!”

            “Come on, Lee.” Neji said, already walking away. “Who did you get, Tenten?”

            “Counselor Kurenai, and Junior Counselor Hana.”

            By the time they walked back over, the counselors had set up their stations. Lee sprinted into Gai’s arms and they both cried. Neji nodded evenly at Kakashi, who was standing behind Gai. Tenten gave Kurenai a friendly smile and wave before joining her.

            Back over at the sign-in, Naruto bolted out of the car, holding Karin by the wrist. Their mothers quickly locked the car and got out after them.

            “Uzumaki!” Naruto yelled at the tables full of grown-ups. They all slowly blinked at him.

            “Naruto…” Tsunade and Jiraiya grumbled in unison.

            Naruto took a closer look at the man at the first table. “Hey! Principal Perv, who let you work at a camp for kids?”  
            “Principal Perv?” asked Kaori, who was moving closer to Karin.

            Kushina rolled her eyes and hit Naruto in the back of the head. “He’s Naruto’s principal. Naruto rudely calls him that because he spends a _lot_ of time in his office.”

            “That’s not the only reason! He writes dirty books –“

            “Their romance novels! Jiraiya stood up at the table. “For adults.”

            Karin let her eyes wander after the outburst, they settled on someone she knew. “Headmaster Orochimaru?” she asked.

            “Hello, Karin.” He was polite…but creepy.

            “Mom,” Karin got Kaori’s attention. “This is my headmaster, Orochimaru.”

            “Oh,” Kaori finally took her eyes off of Jiraiya. “Hello, Headmaster Orochimaru. I always wondered what you look like. There’s not a picture of you on the school’s website –“

            “It’s being cleaned.” Orochimaru smiled wider.

            “You can’t send away website photos to be cleaned.” Kaori commented at the odd joke.

            “It’s a joke.” Orochimaru explained.

            “It’s just not a funny one.” Kushina put bluntly. “You have the “U’s?”

            Orochimaru nodded.

            “Uzumaki.”

            “Naruto and Karin?”

            “That is us.” Naruto held up Karin’s hand.

            “Naruto is with Kakashi and Gai. Karin you’re with Kurenai and Hana.” Orochimaru answered.

            “Thank you.” Kushina gave a fake smile. “Alright kids, time to take a picture, act like you love each other.”

            Naruto and Karin put their arms around each other and squished their faces in close.

            “Say ‘summer camp.’” Said Kaori.

            “Summer camp!” They said in unison as Kushina took the picture.

            Itachi pulled up his car to the drop off. Sasuke started to get out, then he saw Naruto and Karin. He slammed the door shut and ducked down in his seat.

            “What are you doing?” sighed Itachi, who was on the receiving end of the silent treatment the whole trip.

            “Take me to my cabin.” Sasuke said through gritted teeth.

            “I’m not supposed to do that. I’m supposed to drop you off and _then_ you get your assignment.”

            “I don’t care, just take me through the employee entrance.”

            Itachi looked out the window. “Is this about Naruto? You knew you’d see him here –“

            “It’s not _just,_ Naruto. I know that girl too. She goes to Riceland Military Academy with me.”

            “Ah. Worlds collide.”

            “Hey, Four-Eyes.”

            Dammit. Sasuke knew that voice too. He raised his head to peak out the widow, just a little. _“Suigetsu.”_

            “What?” asked Itachi, who barely heard him.

            “Drive!” said Sasuke, with pleading eyes.

            Itachi rolled his eyes. It was nice to have his brother talking to him again, still he wished Sasuke wasn’t such a drama queen. Itachi drove away, toward the employee parking lot.

            “Hey Four-Eyes.” Suigetsu repeated.

            “Suigetsu!” Karin said, going to punch his arm.

            Suigetsu quickly moved out of the way, almost like he was made of liquid. “Too slow.”

            “Karin, you know this boy?” Asked Kaori.

            “Mom, this is Suigetsu. Suigetsu this is Mom.” Karin sighed.

            “Pleasure is all mine.” Suigetsu cheerfully shook Kaori’s hand. Then he leaned in low so just Karin could hear him. “Who’s this? Your boyfriend? Wait till I tell you-know-who –“

            “Shut it!” Said Karin, her hit landing this time. “And he’s my cousin you moron.”

            Suigetsu just laughed.

            “Karin!” Kaori called to her. “We’re leaving, you and Naruto _behave_.”

            “Yes, ma’am.”

            “Keep Naruto under control.” Kushina yelled out.

            Naruto decided, against Karin’s wishes, they’d wait for Suigetsu to get his counselor assignment before they left. Naruto said it was the right thing to do since Suigetsu had never been before and didn’t have a friend to show him.

            While they were waiting Kizashi dropped Sakura and Hinata off. Then Naruto insisted they wait for them.

            Sakura eagerly dragged Hinata over to see Naruto.

            “Hi-i Na-na-ru-to.” Hinata Stuttered out.

            “Hey, Hinata. I want you guys to meet my cousin, Karin.”

            “Hey, Karin.” Sakura started.          

            “Nice to meet you.” Hinata added.

            “We’re with Kurenai. How about you?”

            “Me too!” Karin said happily as they made their way over to the counselors.

            As they left, another car pulled up and dropped off two more boys. The redhead sighed, looking at the camp sign uncertainly.

            “Everything will be fine, Juugo.” His best friend assured him. “Headmaster Orochimaru recommended we go here.”

            “Kimimaro.” Orochimaru said evenly, welcoming his prodigy. “And Juugo.” He gave Tsunade a smile.

            “I take it these are some of yours?” asked Tsunade, worried about what kinds of kids Orochimaru was bringing into her camp. Kimimaro politely shook her hand and signed himself in, he did the same for Juugo.

            Tsunade was impressed, maybe these kids wouldn’t be so bad.

            The next car dropped off three more teens from Riceland.

            “Look, it’s Kimimaro!” Zaku said in disbelief.

            “Wow, you’re right.” Said Kin, going over to inspect the famous school prodigy. “What are you doing here?” she asked, forgetting her manners.

            “Juugo and I came to better ourselves.” Kimimaro said, putting his arm around his friend. It was no secret Juugo was in remedial everything. He was actually held back a year, and if he wanted to advance again, he needed extra credit. And Kimimaro was determined to help him.

            “Us too.” Zaku said embarrassed, it was no secret he and Kin were on academic probation. They weren’t the best students or even the most talented at their other pursuits.

            “How about you, Dosu?” asked Juugo, looking at a boy wearing a medical mask and an eye patch. He was the odd man out, a good student, and not particularly close to anyone.

            Dosu shrugged. “It’s a thing to do to pass the time.”

            They were interrupted by the sound of loud music. A windowless van opened up to reveal another group.

            “What the Hell-“ Kimimaro started as they got out of the van.

            The leader was a boy, well actually, conjoined twins with light blue hair and green lipstick. The next one out was a short girl with red hair and a bad attitude. Then a boy with six arms, stretching high into the air. The last one to come out was a large boy with a head shaved in weird spots.

            “What are _you_ all doing here?” asked Kimimaro. The group, known at Riceland as _The Four_ were, despite their reputation for trouble, good students. Sakon and Ukon were arrogant, but they were also confident, quick thinkers. They were also rather athletic. Tayuya was known for her foul-mouth, but she was also wicked smart and a talented musician. Kidomaru never took anything seriously, life was a game to him, but he liked to win, so he always had a strategy. And Jiroubo could be a bully, but he was an excellent athlete.

            “Why the fuck do you care?” asked the tiny redhead, squaring up against him.          Kidomaru and Sakon laughed.

            Jiroubo was not amused “Tayuya, a lady shouldn’t –“

            “Can it, fat ass, I’m talking to wonder boy here.”

            Kimimaro slowly blinked at her. He didn’t know why this tiny girl was so brazenly standing up to him when she knew he was better in every way. If Kimimaro really wanted to, he could put her in her place. “Forget it,” He said looking back at Juugo. “I don’t care that much.”

            “If you really want to know,” started Sakon. “Our parents didn’t want to deal with us this summer.”

            “Well, you’re all terrible so I can’t say I blame them.”

            Sakon laughed his comment off treating it as a compliment.

            “Because you’re so perfect.” Tayuya squared off against him again.

            Kimimaro ignored her. “Come on, Juugo. Let’s go to our assignment.”

            Tsunade glared at Orochimaru, she had been watching the whole interaction with his students. “What kind of shit show are you running?”

            “You’ll see, in due time, you’ll see.” Orochimaru smiled back at her.

            Over with the counselors, Tenten was getting bored. She liked Counselor Kurenai, but they had run out of small talk to make. She gazed longingly over at Lee and Neji. Lee and Gai were involved in an animated conversation. The other counselor, Kakashi, was reading. At least Neji looked as bored as she did.

            She was called out of her thoughts by Sakura. “Tenten!”

            “Hey, Sakura.” She called them over.

            “Is that Counselor Kurenai?” Sakura asked.

            “Yeah!”

            Sakura, Hinata, and Karin made their way over to Tenten. Naruto and Suigetsu went over to Kakashi and Gai.

            “Sakura Haruno.” Sakura introduced herself to Kurenai, who smiled and crossed her name off the list.

            “I’m Hinata Hyuuga.” Hinata introduced herself.

            “You know her?” Tenten whispered to Sakura.

            “Yeah, we’re friends.”

            “You’re friends with Neji’s crybaby cousin?” Tenten raised her eyebrows.

            “She’s not a crybaby,” Sakura insisted, “Neji’s full of it.”

            “I don’t know why Neji would lie.” Tenten insisted.

            “Who’s Neji?” asked Karin, who everyone forgot about for a minute. She said it loud enough for Hinata to hear.

            “He’s my cousin.” Answered Hinata, not sure why they were talking about Neji.

            “And who are you?” asked Kurenai.

            “Karin Uzumaki.” Karin answered back. Kurenai crossed her name off.

            Some time passed, eventually the girls were joined by a girl with glasses named Shiho who would be a freshman this year with Tenten at Forest Hills High. Their junior counselor Hana showed up, she was nice and engaged the girls in a game to pass the time. Then they were joined by another girl with dark skin and red hair. She introduced herself as Karui and said she went to the very small Cloudy Mountain School, which was north of Forest Hills.

                        Naruto, Lee, Suigetsu, and Neji were joined by a boy with dark skin and white hair named Omoi. He was also from Cloudy Mountain. Shino and Kiba showed up after a while and took their places with the group.

            Karin noticed a lot of upperclassmen from Riceland were taking their places by another set of counselors. Kin and Tayuya were placed with a woman named Anko who Karin had heard rumors about. Everyone at Riceland talked about how she was once Headmaster Orochimaru’s prized student when he taught at Forest Hills. Suigetsu, who got in trouble a lot, told her there was still a photo of Orochimaru with Anko in his office. Another girl joined them, she had dark skin and green hair. Karui said her name was Fuu and she also went to Cloudy Mountain.

            On the boy’s side, Karin noticed a lot more Riceland students. One of Riceland’s first graduates, a boy named Kabuto, was a junior counselor. During the school year he was a teaching assistant and Karin noticed he was doing a good job of keeping even the most rowdy boys in line. The main counselor had a name tag that read “Baki” but Karin had never seen him before. He wore an eye patch and was kind of scary looking to Karin.

            Ino was ready to be out of the car when they arrived at camp. She thought riding with Sai would be romantic, but her dad seemed determined to embarrass her. Every time she tried to talk to Sai, her dad would interrupt or immediately involve everyone in the car in the discussion.

            They all got out and Inoichi insisted Sai get a picture of himself and the other two dads with their kids. Ino groaned and put up with it. Choza was her hero when he asked to take a picture of just the kids. Inoichi was going to protest, but Shikaku held him back, saying he was acting crazy. Ino made sure Sai was standing next to her, grabbing her waist as Shikamaru and Choji smiled next to them.

            They got their assignments as their parents drove off. Ino was with Kurenai and all of the boys would be with Kakashi and Gai. As they were about to leave they noticed a _really_ nice car pull up.

            “What do you think is going on there?” asked Ino to Shikamaru, completely mesmerized.

            Shikamaru shrugged in response, but he watched with interest, pulling Choji back so they could observe a little longer.

            A beautiful girl got out of the car. She was wearing white shorts with a white sleeveless polo shirt. Sunglasses rested on top of her hair, which was done in four pigtails, but still somehow looked mature.

            Shikamaru shook his head when he realized he was staring just as much as Ino. He looked down at the ground, before turning his attention to the car and away from the girl for good.

            Another girl got out. She had short brown hair and was wearing a black skort with a teal polo shirt. She looked a little unsure of herself but got over it and followed the first girl.

            The next person to get out of the car was a boy who looked like he didn’t belong with the girls at all. He was wearing baggy black jeans and a black Metalica hoodie, despite the heat. He also had on a beanie and had purple eyeliner on his eyes.

            The next boy to get out was even stranger than the first. He had dyed red hair and heavy black eyeliner. He also had what looked like a tattoo above one of his eyes. He was wearing a dark red hoodie and black cargo pants.

            “There _has_ to be a mistake!”

            Ino, Shikamaru, Choji and Sai stared at the source of the noise. The pretty girl in white looked like someone just punched her in the stomach.

            “My brothers are supposed to be in a cabin together.” She continued.

            “I’m sorry,” said Tsunade “But Kankuro is fifteen, he’ll be with the fifteen and sixteen year olds and Gaara will be with the thirteen and fourteen year olds.”

            “My father wrote you months ago saying they need to be together. Please –“

            Tsunade held a hand up “I’m sorry, Temari, but the cabins are full for the younger boys.”

            “Can’t you put Gaara with the older boys?” Temari asked

            “No, I can’t. Age groups exist for a reason. Besides, Kakashi and Gai are perfectly capable of handling anything your brother can throw at them.”

            “But –“

            “You’re making a scene.” A cold, quiet voice rang out.

            “Gaara –“ Temari started.

            “What’s the issue?” Gaara asked Tsunade directly.

            “Your dad wanted you and your brother to stay in a cabin together. I already told your dad it couldn’t be done –“

            “That’s fine.” Said Gaara cutting her off. He turned his attention to Temari. “I don’t need a babysitter.” He said coldly.

            “Of course you don’t, but wouldn’t you rather be with Kankuro?”

            “No.” He answered flatly. “What are you four staring at?” Gaara directed his attention to the Forest Hills group.

            “You.” Sai answered with a smile. “Of course, I think Shikamaru was more interested in your sister.”

            Shikamaru blushed just for a second.

            “You’re in our way.” The cold edge was still in Gaara’s voice.

            “We better get going.” Said Choji, and the rest of the group left to go meet their counselors.

            Ino ran over to Sakura after the ordeal, completely forgetting her plan to be with Sai as much as possible. “Forehead, you will never believe who I just saw.”

            “Sasuke?” asked Sakura, a little too excited.

            “No. But I saw this super glamorous girl. Seriously, she was wearing all white and their wasn’t a spot on her. Her name is Temari, I guess. Oh, and Sai caught Shikamaru staring, but he says he wasn’t. Anyway, this girl is _gorgeous_ but her brothers are _freaks –“_ Ino didn’t have to finish the whole group came walking past them. They dropped off the girl with brown hair and the other three kept walking.

            “Freaks, for sure.” Said Sakura.

            “Who are you calling a freak?” asked the girl with brown hair, crossing her arms.

            “Those boys. Do you know them –“

            “They’re not freaks! They’re misunderstood, Gaara is at least.” She said blushing.

            Kurenai broke up the conversation, clip board in hand. “Which one of you is Ino and which one is Matsuri?”

            “I’m Ino!” Ino said.

            “I’m Matsuri.” Matsuri said.

            “Wonderful,” started Kurenai, not wanting to deal with teen girl drama on the first day. “Let’s go see your cabins.”


	3. And They Were Roommates

             Sasuke got himself settled into his cabin, taking a bottom bunk and enjoying the quiet. He’d gone to Camp Hidden Leaf his entire childhood, as had his brother, so he knew how the age groups worked. He also knew they randomly assigned campers to the cabins. With any luck, he’d get to share a cabin with sensible people like Neji, Shino, and Shikamaru. He’d be okay with rooming with Choji too. God help him if he had to room with Naruto or Suigetsu.

            Meanwhile, on the walk over to the cabins, Naruto and Suigetsu were getting to know each other. They felt like they knew each other forever, hell, they might’ve been long lost twins. Although Suigetsu liked to tease, it was clear to Naruto that he _really_ cared about Karin, and it seemed like they had some pretty cool friends at Riceland too.

            “Karin tells me that not _everyone_ is there by choice. She says some people were shipped off there because they don’t know how to behave. Do you know anyone like that?” Naruto asked.

            Suigetsu laughed loudly, annoying Neji and Shikamaru. “You’re looking at Riceland’s number one problem child. Honestly, I think they just keep me around as an experiment ‘can we mold this young lad into a proper student?’ The answer is ‘no,’ they can’t.”

            Naruto laughed back. “Tell me about it, I’m always getting sent to Principal Perv’s office.”

            “That’s what you call him? I call Orochimaru ‘Headmaster Creepy.’ He’s a total creep.”

            “Yeah, Karin says he’s a little weird. Is there anyone else who gives him trouble?”

            “Not as much as me, did you see the big guy with orange hair walking with the really refined looking guy with white hair?”

            “Yeah.”

            “The orange-haired guy is my friend Juugo. He’s older than us, but he got held back a few years. He’s got issues, sometimes he just snaps. Totally nice guy when he’s with it though. How about you, do you have a partner in crime?”

            “Forest Hills isn’t as intense, all these guys are just minor offenders,” Naruto gestured to the other Forest Hills boys. “Kiba gets sent to the office for being disruptive, but he’s not nearly as funny as me, he usually just talks to loud in class,”

            “What did you –“ Kiba started to challenge Naruto, after all, he had a wild reputation to protect. But Shino pulled him back.

            “Remember, your sister works here, you don’t want to get in trouble.” Shino reminded him.

            Kiba swatted Shino’s hand off of him, but yielded. He _did_ care about his sister’s reputation.

            Naruto continued when he saw Kiba wasn’t going to protest. “Shikamaru gets in trouble for sleeping in class.”

            “If they taught me something I didn’t know, maybe I’d pay attention.” Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

            “And Choji gets in trouble for eating in class.” Naruto finished.

            “Guilty.” Smiled Choji.

            “But Principal Perv doesn’t really care what we’re doing as long as we’re passing classes, and no one is seriously hurt. Half the time I go into his office, he’s just looking at dirty magazines anyway.”

            “Your school sounds way better than ours.” Suigetsu said amazed.

            “Yeah, but my best friend transferred and it’s not the same anymore.”

            “I’m sorry to hear that.”

            “I mean, he was moody, arrogant, and totally not as great as everyone thought he was. But he was also challenged me to be better.”

            “I know what you mean,” Started Suigetsu. “There’s this guy at Riceland, cockiest person I’ve ever met, he’s Headmaster Orochimaru’s favorite student, and Karin is really grossly in love with him. But he _can_ actually back it up. He’s a good student and a good athlete, and I actually don’t mind taking orders from him when we have to work in a group. “

            “Here we are campers!” Gai smiled wide. “The place you’ll spend the next 2 weeks of your young lives.”

            “ITACHI!” Naruto yelled, seeing Sasuke’s legendary brother sitting at the fire pit.

            “Hi, Naruto.” Itachi waved.

            “What are you doing here?”

            “Junior Counselor.” Itachi pointed to his shirt.

            “That’s right,” Gai started. “Itachi here chose to spend the summer helping you guys enjoy camp to the fullest. You have the cabin assignments?”

            “Yeah,” Itachi picked up the clipboard sitting beside him. “Choji, Shikamaru, Omoi, and Sai, you’re in cabin one. Neji, Lee, Shino, and Kiba, you’re in cabin two. The rest of you will be in cabin three.”

            Naruto raised his hand, but asked the question anyway without waiting to be called on. “If there’s only three of us, does that mean _you’re_ in the cabin with us?” Naruto asked, dreading any type of supervision.

            “No,” Itachi started. “Junior counselors sleep in the same cabin as counselors. There’s a camper who had to be dropped off early in cabin three, he’ll be your final bunkmate.”

            “Sounds good!” Naruto said hurrying into the Cabin. Suigetsu raced after him while Gaara walked behind them.

            “Oh no.” It was all Sasuke could say as the two most annoying people he had ever met walked into his cabin.

            “SASUKE!” Naruto and Suigetsu yelled in unison.

            “You know him?” asked Suigetsu.

            “He’s my best friend!” Naruto cried out.

            Sasuke sat with his head in his hands.

            Gaara had just made it into the cabin and started unpacking on the other lower bunk as Naruto and Suigetsu stared in disbelief.

            “Sasuke!” Naruto yelled angrily. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to Riceland? I would’ve written you! I thought you were dead.”

            “You did?” Asked Suigetsu.

            “Well, not really, but it kind of made me wonder…”

            At this point Gaara decided to sit back and watch the show.

            “What are you looking at?” glared Sasuke.

            Gaara just slowly blinked his eyes.

            Sasuke rolled his own eyes, as he was bombarded with a million questions from both Naruto and Suigetsu. Naruto hadn’t seen him in a year and wanted to catch up, while Suigetsu was trying to decipher Sasuke’s past.

            It was a nightmare for Sasuke. He wanted to go to Riceland so he could be at a place where he wasn’t living in his brother’s shadow. It was perfect to not only learn new skills, but the no phone policy, was a great way to stop people from knowing about his family all together. Uchihas in general liked to keep their home lives private, so there was no checking up on social media anyway. Now here he was: listening to Naruto telling Suigetsu everything about him, even the embarrassing things.

            “…and at career day when we were in kindergarten, he said he wanted to be his big brother. I said I wanted to be a fireman but Sasuke –“

            “ENOUGH.” Sasuke snapped at Naruto.

            “What, you didn’t tell him anything, so I have to fill him in.”

            “Did you know this guy is Karin’s cousin?” Suigetsu asked.

            “No,” started Sasuke. It figures Naruto was related to someone _that_ annoying. “And I could’ve gone my whole life without knowing that information. Why do you guys care so much about me anyway, it’s pathetic?”

            Naruto and Suigetsu backed off, they both looked down at the floor. They always thought of Sasuke as their friend, but they forgot about him being needlessly cruel sometimes.

            Sasuke saw he hurt them, he thought about apologizing, but instead decided the silence was too good to pass up. “Go bug that guy about his personal life.” Sasuke said, rolling over onto his side. “I’m taking a power nap before the opening assembly.”

            “So….” Naruto started. “Where do you go to school?”

            “Wind Valley.” Gaara said simply.

            “Wow! That fancy private school? Your parents must be loaded.”

            “My father is the Headmaster.”

            “That must be weird,” Suigetsu laughed. “You get in trouble and then you get punished by your _dad.”_

“It would be funny,” Gaara started. “Except I’ve never thought of him as my dad.”

            “This guy has more baggage than Sasuke.” Naruto whispered to Suigetsu.

            “I heard that.” Said Gaara with zero emotion in his voice.

            Shikamaru was busy organizing everyone in cabin one. “If it’s all the same to you,” he said putting his duffle bag down on a bottom bunk. “Choji and I would like take the bottom bunks. He’s a little…”

            Choji glared at Shikamaru, daring him to call him fat. Shikamaru and Ino were allowed to comment on his weight, in fact, they were the _only_ ones allowed to comment on his weight.

            Shikamaru understood Choji would _not_ tolerate the rest of the cabin doing so. But, before he could finish Sai spoke.

            “Because his fat ass would weigh down the top bunk?” asked Sai with a smile on his face.

            Shikamaru’s jaw dropped at the comment and he instinctively held Choji back.

            Even the guy they didn’t know, Omoi looked dumbstruck at the comment. “What the hell –“

            “WHO ARE YOU CALLING FATASS YOU –“ Choji tried to break Shikamaru’s hold.

            “It’s just a joke among friends.” Sai smiled.

            Choji stopped flailing. “Oh.” He said a little embarrassed but still hurt by the comment.

            “Well it wasn’t a funny one.” Shikamaru glared. _“What the hell does Ino see in this guy?”_ he thought to himself.

            Omoi raised his hand to speak, cutting the tension. “I’ll take the top bunk, with you.” He offered to Choji.

            “Sounds great!” Choji smiled.

            Sai hadn’t stopped smiling the whole time, “I guess I’m on top then, Shikamaru?”

            Shikamaru grunted a reply and went back to unpacking his duffle bag.

            In cabin two, they didn’t need to sort out who would sleep where because Lee and Kiba had already raced each other to the top bunks. Leaving the much more easy going Shino and indifferent Neji on the bottom.

            Lee tried to turn unpacking into a competition with Neji, who declined. Kiba was more than happy to see who could unpack the fastest. Shino reminded him not to go too fast, or he’d likely forget where he put everything.

            “SHUT UP SHINO!” Kiba yelled.

            Shino was really getting tired of hearing it. He took a deep breath, refolding his clothes and putting them away. “Neji,” he started.

            Neji was surprised to hear anything come out of Shino’s mouth that wasn’t a reprimand directed at Kiba. “Yes?”

            “You’re Hinata’s cousin aren’t you?”

            “What of it?” Neji said annoyed, coldly.

            “She’s a friend of mine and Kiba’s.”

            Kiba smiled thinking about his friend. “She’s so nice and shy, she was in our literature group this year, she’s one of the best partners we ever had. Not great at oral presentations though.”

            “I see.” Neji started. “Well, being ‘nice’ can be a drawback as well as a attribute. As for ‘shy,’ the girl is a head case.” He put his clothes away precisely, but with an edge.

            “What are you-“ Kiba’s voice took on a dangerous tone.

            Shino cut him off. “Well, I’d say it could be worse. She could be haughty and pretentious.”

            Kiba stifled a laugh.

            “I WIN!” Lee cried out shoving the last of his clothes into the small dresser behind him.

            And with that, the conversation ended.

            Over with the 13-14 year old girls, Kurenai was doing things a little differently. She told them they could pick a buddy, then the two buddies would pair up with another group of girls to be in a cabin. Ino grabbed Sakura right away, of course. Hinata buddied up with Karin, wanting to make a good impression on Naruto’s cousin. The four 13 year-olds became a cabin. Tenten and Shiho were in some of the same classes at school so they buddied up, leaving Matsuri and Karui to partner up, together they were the second cabin.

            “Alright, ladies. I’ll leave you alone to pack up. Hana and I are in the counselors’ cabin if you need us.” Kurenai said walking toward the cabin.

            “Alright, ladies,” Started Ino, doing her best impression of counselor Kurenai when they got into their cabin, “This is how it’s going to work, forehead and I will be on the top bunks, because sound travels up and we’ll probably keep the rest of you up with our talking.”

            Karin puffed out her cheeks. “Actually, sound travels in all directions. And why do _you_ get to decide where we sleep?”

            “Because she’s stubborn and pig-headed.” Sakura laughed like it was a big joke.

            “Seriously, you can have the top if you want.” Ino said, extending the olive branch.

            “I’m good with the bottom!” Hinata insisted.

            “I guess I am too, then.” Karin said, not wanting to cause trouble with the Forest Hills girls.

            Tenten dropped her duffle bag down roughly in the next cabin over.

            Karui let out an amused laugh from the top bunk across the room. “Man, you Forest Hills girls really love your drama, don’t you?”

           “Excuse you?” Started Shiho, pacing around the room as she launched into an explanation. “Frankly, what do you know about us ‘Forest Hills’ girls? You’ve only met a few of us, and most of them are in _middle school._ It’s not a very scientific conclusion to make about all of us.”

            “You like science?” Karui asked, propping herself up on the bed. “Maybe be a little more observant. Your girl here keeps glaring at the shy one who keeps hiding behind the one with the pink hair.”

            Tenten sighed in annoyance.

            “So what did she do, space buns?” asked Karui. “Steal your boyfriend?”

            “Tenten doesn’t have a boyfriend.” Shiho said.

            “She’s my friend’s cousin.” Tenten said shortly. “They don’t get along, that’s all.”

            “She’s a Hyuuga right?” asked Shiho. “Maybe you could give her a break? Frankly, not all of us get along with Neji as well as you and Lee do. Well, frankly, just you. I think Neji only tolerates Lee.”

            “So it’s Neji?” Karui asked, getting down from the bunk.

            “What do you mean, ‘so it’s Neji?’” Tenten bristled as she put her clothes away.

            “The boy that’s causing all the drama.” Karui raised an eyebrow at her.

            Tenten was about to protest but Matsuri called her out of it.

            “Boys can cause drama,” She said wistfully. “I’m lucky Gaara stays out of it.”

            “Who’s Gaara?” asked Tenten eager to change the subject.

            Matsuri launched into a long explanation of her crush on Gaara, the headmaster’s son. She talked about how amazing he is and how he’s just misunderstood by everyone else.

            Realizing she was talking about the _severe_ looking boy they saw her with before, they didn’t have the heart to tell her he probably wasn’t interested.

            Karui was about to start, but Tenten put a finger over her lips as if to say, “It’s not worth it.”

            Baki managed to run a pretty tight ship with the older boys until the split them into cabins. Kimimaro was none too happy to find out he was stuck with the 3 male members of The Four while Juugo was in the next cabin over. Juugo’s cabin mates included Dosu, Zaku, and the Wind Valley boy, Kankuro.

            It didn’t take The Four too long to trash their cabin. Kimimaro decided to take a bunk under Kidomaru seeing as he was the cleanest. Sakon and Ukon were busy dumping a huge bag of makeup on the top of one of the dressers. Jirobou was getting crumbs everywhere as he snacked on a bag of chips. Kimimaro shut his eyes and tried to fight off the giant headache he was developing.

            In the other cabin, Kankuro was busy dumping his own bag of makeup on a dresser.

            Zaku scoffed. “Nice makeup, does your sister do it for you?”

            Kankuro gave him a smile. “Not anymore, but she can teach you how to use cover-up after a I give you a shiner.”

            Juugo backed away from the other boys. “I don’t think you should do this.”

            Dosu looked lazily from Juugo then glared at Zaku. “You’re here for extra credit, Zaku. Don’t forget your mission. If you get in trouble here, you can kiss your spot at Riceland goodbye.”

            Zaku grunted and then started unpacking.

            Kankuro gave Dosu a mock salute and kept unpacking.

            The older girls were actually getting along pretty well with their counselor. Anko told them all about herself. She told them she took classes with Headmaster Orochimaru when he was still a teacher at Forest Hills. He used to be her favorite teacher, until he turned into a major creep. He tried to get her to go to Riceland but her parents refused.

            “Here’s the dealio,” Anko started as she arrived at their cabin. “I don’t care what you do as long as you don’t get caught. You can drink, as long as you share with me. You can go meet a boy, just don’t bring one back here, because if another counselor realizes he’s missing, then I have to involve that counselor and it’s out of my hands. Hell, you can burn down the forest for all I care, just don’t get caught.”

            Fuu was in love with her new fun-loving counselor, she knew they’d be best friends.

            Anko was Tayuya’s new hero for trash talking Headmaster Orochimaru and promoting rule breaking.

            Kin was interested in learning more about Headmaster Orochimaru from Anko.

            Temari was the only one who seemed the least bit concerned her camp counselor just promoted arson. She could only hope that whoever Gaara’s counselor was, he’d be a little stricter with the rules.

            “This is where you’ll be sleeping,” Anko made a grand gesture toward their cabin. “As you can see, it’s just the four of you, and there are four beds, so you know what to do.”

            “I call top bunk!” Called Fuu racing to one of the top bunks and throwing her bag down.

            Tayuya and Kin took the other set of bunk beds and Temari settled in under Fuu.

            “So where are you all from? I go to Cloudy Mountain. How about you?” Fuu dangled her head down from the top bunk, looking down at Temari.

            “I go to Wind Valley.” Temari gave Fuu a small smile.

            “We go to Riceland.” Tayuya answered for herself and Kin.

            “Military school, what’s that like?” Temari raised one perfect eyebrow.

            “It’s a fucking nightmare,” Tayuya said, raising a hand like she was toasting the school.

            “Our Headmaster is a little odd.” Added Kin.

            “The guy Anko was talking about? He’s friends with the camp director, right?”

            “I saw him!” Fuu said excitedly, “He seems like a weirdo.”

            “That’s him.” Tayuya said. “My parents said I needed discipline, so I get shipped off to military school during the school year, and shipped off to various camps during the summer.”

            “What’s your story?” Temari asked Kin.

            “Oh, I didn’t really have much of a direction, so my parents sent me to Riceland and my grades aren’t exactly the best so…I’m here for extra credit.”

            “What kind of a school lets you go to summer camp for extra credit?” asked Fuu curiously.

            “One run by a fucking lunatic.” Said Tayuya.

            “So, Posh Spice, what’s your story?” Asked Kin.

            “My father is the headmaster at Wind Valley. I’m here because my uncle thought this would be a fun ‘normal kid’ thing for my brother to do.”

            “The serial killer or the ax murderer?” Tayuya asked.

            Temari blinked slowly at her. At Wind Valley no one dared say anything about her or her brothers, not to their faces at least. “I’m not sure what you mean, by that. But I’m talking about my youngest brother, Gaara. He’s a bit of a wildcard and that’s putting it nicely.”

            “And you’re here why?” Kin asked.

            Temari sat back on the bottom bunk, trying to soak in the cabin around her. “My uncle made it sound really nice. He and my mom are twins and they went to summer camp every year growing up. I hoped we could do it as a family, but now we’re all split up.”

            “You’ll see them again at assembly! I can’t wait to hear about all the fun things we’re going to do.” Fuu got down from the top bunk and grabbed Temari’s hands lifting her up. “I think it might be about time!”

           

           


	4. The Gang's All Here

            The 13-14 year-old boys were running late. Of course, they weren’t running late through their own fault. Gai had been trying to get Kakashi to leave their cabin for the last 15 minutes. Kakashi kept mumbling out an indifferent “one more chapter” as he sat in his bed, reading a romance novel.

            “Can’t you take it with us?” Gai pleaded, trying to pull his fellow counselor up off the bed.

            “I’d hardly call this book appropriate for children.” Kakashi said plainly, not taking his eyes off the page.

            “It never stopped you before.”

            Naruto and Kiba burst through the counselors’ door. “What’s going on? We’re going to be late for assembly!” Kiba said as they pushed their way through.

            “Hey,” Naruto pointed a finger at Kakashi. “They’re fine!” He called out the window, “They’re not even doing anything, just reading a stupid book.”

            The rest of the boys were standing outside, waiting to leave for assembly.

            Sasuke was sulking and replying with one-word answers to most of Suigetsu’s questions. Choji was making sure he had gum to chew on during assembly, since he couldn’t bring food. Lee was running circles around everyone, trying to get out his pent-up energy before he’d be sitting still for a while. The rest of the boys stood quietly together. Even Gaara was present and accounted for, although he sat down at the fire pit staring directly into the unlit wood, not interacting with anyone.

            Gai hid his face in one of his hands. “Kakashi, we really should get going.”

            “You go, I’ll catch up.” Kakashi finally looked up from the page. “I trust you can handle the boys by themselves.”

            Gai marched out of the cabin with Naruto and Kiba in tow.

            “All right, troops. We’re going to be late because Kakashi…isn’t feeling up to going to assembly. So, to make up for it, we’re going to race to the bleachers.”

            “Yes sir, Counselor Gai!” Lee saluted and took off running.

            “I won’t lose to you!” Naruto called, chasing after him.

            “Not fair!” Kiba shouted, trying to catch up with them.

            Sasuke’s eyes narrowed as he watched Naruto run after Lee. He told himself racing was stupid, but a more powerful part of him said he couldn’t let Naruto win. So he took off running.

            “Wait up!” Said Suigetsu, surprised at Sasuke’s motivation to participate in the stupid race.

            “What a drag, do we really have to race?” Shikamaru asked Neji.

            “I just ate.” Said Choji, holding his stomach.

            “We don’t have to.” Neji said plainly. “But the sooner we run, the sooner we’re done.”

            He decided on a brisk walk and Gaara, Omoi, and Sai paced themselves with him.

            “Come on, Choji. You and I will bring up the rear.” Shikamaru decided. “We’re already late.”

            “Are they here yet?” asked Tsunade, from the inside of her own cabin. She didn’t like kids that much, and she really didn’t like giving speeches to kids.

            “Not yet.” The camp nurse, Shizune responded. “They should be here any minute though, no one radioed that there was an emergency at the 13-14 boys cabin.”

            “I’ll come out when they get here, not a moment sooner.” Tsunade had no idea what she’d say to all of them. She tried to think back to the days when her Grandfather and his brother were camp directors. She was a camper and she remembered feeling…something when her grandfather spoke. She couldn’t remember if it was pride, or embarrassment, or both, but it was a feeling. She felt like her words always fell flat on the kids’ ears.

            She closed her eyes and tried to imagine herself as a little girl again. She was sitting with her cabin, and across from her, Jiraiya was making funny faces. Orochimaru nodded at her from beside him. Things were so simple back then…

            “Tsunade,” Jiraiya called her out of her daze. “So I’m trying to write the assembly scene, I want it to be realistic but _sexy_. What do you think I should say?”

            “I don’t know.” She growled at him, not wanting to help with his stupid trashy novels. Yes things were more simple back then, back before her best friends became a pervert and a total creep. “Do your best.” She glared at Jiraiya. It was sarcastic, but it made her think. “That’s inspirational.”

            “They’re taking forever.” Groaned Ino to Sakura. “How much do you want to bet Naruto is behind this?”

            Before Sakura could speak, Karin protested. “He wouldn’t be late for this. All Naruto talked about for the past month was camp. He doesn’t want to miss a minute of it.”

            “I’d have to agree with her,” replied Sakura. “When Naruto sets his mind to something, he always follows through.”

            Ino groaned again. “I really hope it’s not Shikamaru or Choji.” She thought of Shikamaru oversleeping in his bunk or Choji stuffing his face and making them late. “Ugh. Then what would Sai think of me?”

            Karui pointed to Ino in the row in front. “More boy drama from the Forest Hills girls?” She asked Tenten.

            Tenten gave an annoyed shrug. She didn’t know what was going on in Ino’s love life, or lack thereof. So she really couldn’t comment. “Well I know it’s not Lee or Neji. Lee loves camp and Neji is always on time. Don’t you have a friend at camp, Karui?”

            Karui thought about Omoi for a minute. “He’s over apologetic, he’d never be this late.”

            “What if it’s Kiba?” Said Hinata sadly, worrying everyone would be late because of her friend.

            “Shino would never let him do that.” Ino reminded her. “What about the guy with the raccoon eyeliner?”  
            “You leave Gaara out of this!” Matsuri puffed out her cheeks and glared at Ino.

            Sakura’s jaw into a surprised “o.” She got Ino’s attention, tapping on her shoulder.

            “What’s up forehead? Oh.” Ino stared too.

            “I can’t believe he’s really here.” Sakura was tearing up, just a little.

            The rest of the girls turned and stared at the scene, Naruto and Sasuke were neck and neck, racing to the bonfire. Lee was close behind, with Kiba behind him.

            “Sasuke!” Karin cried out.

            Ino and Sakura turned to look at her. “You know Sasuke?” Asked Ino.

            “Yeah, he goes to Riceland. How do you know him?”

            “He grew up with us.”

            They raced to their seats in front of the bonfire, hot and out of breath. Sasuke tried to hide his exhaustion as he sat down panting as quietly as he could. Naruto was trying his best to control his breathing as he panted loudly. Lee kept up his energy doing a handstand to push himself even further. Kiba just plopped down on the ground, laying in front of the bonfire.

            Neji, Gaara, Darui, and Shino were the next to appear calmly taking their seats at the bonfire.

            “We are so sorry.” Omoi sheepishly addressed the crowd.

            Finally Shikamaru and Choji brought up the rear with Gai urging them to move faster.

            “Hello everyone.” Gai said meekly.

            “What took you so long?” Kurenai whispered to him.

            “I couldn’t get that damn book away from Kakashi.”

            “Again?” she hissed.

            Finally Tsunade came out. “Hello, Campers.” She said awkwardly, taking a microphone from Shizune and addressing the crowd. “Welcome to Camp Hidden Leaf, your home away from home. I see some familiar faces and some new ones…” she racked her brain for things to say about how fun camp was, but she was drawing a blank, everything she felt was overshadowed by her annoyance with the boys being late, and public speaking. “Anyway…let’s all sing the camp song.”

            A man with dark skin and white cornrows came out. He was wearing sunglasses even at night. He smiled flashing white teeth as he pulled out a guitar.

            Karui and Omoi exchanged nervous looks. It was their music teacher, who the students called Killer B. He couldn’t carry a tune to save his life and most of the students were pretty sure he only got the position because he grew up with the principal. Still, he was beloved by all.

            Fuu was not most students, she stood up and cheered for her favorite teacher as he struck a (wrong) cord. The kids who knew it all joined in for the lamest ballad they had ever heard.

            _We climb, we swim, we hike, we have fun in the woods._

_We row a boat upon the lake, enjoying nature’s goods._

_Camp Hidden Leaf, our home away from home._

_Camp Hidden Leaf, oh my, your trees have grown._

_We spend our summers crafting. So take this piece of string._

_It’s a friendship bracelet worth more than any ring._

_Camp Hidden Leaf, our favorite place to be._

_Camp Hidden Leaf, we sing this song for thee._

_So lets join hands with our camp friends. Some old and some new._

_Cause at Camp Hidden Leaf, there’s nothing we can’t do!_

_Camp Hidden Leaf, where friendships bloom and grow._

_Camp Hidden Leaf, oh how we love you so!_

_WORK HIDDEN LEAF! PLAY HIDDEN LEAF! LIVE HIDDEN LEAF! YEAH!_

“Very nice.” Tsunade said rubbing her temples. “Anyway the gang’s all here. You’ve met your counselors. I’m your Camp Director, Tsunade. These are my assistants for the year, Orochimaru and Jiraiya. And our beloved camp nurse, Shizune.”

Shizune smiled and waved at the campers.

            “There’s only one of her so if you get burned by the bonfire…just don’t get yourself burned. Now I’ll pass it over to our athletic director, Asuma to light it up.”

            A gruff looking man quickly put out the cigarette he was smoking, trying to hide it from the kids. Then he took out a lighter, lit a torch, then lit the bonfire which sprang to life in a burst of red and orange.

            It doesn’t matter how old you get, you’ll never get tired of a big fire, so all the campers cheered in earnest, enthralled with the flames.

“Dinner is ready!” Called an old man with smiling eyes. He and the young woman beside him gestured to a dinner buffet with hot dogs, salad, chips and bug juice.

            Naruto ran right over to the line and even beat Choji there. He knew the old man, Teuchi from his past trips to camp and he loved his food more than anything else he’d ever eaten.

            Ino eyed Sai get into the dinner line. “So, Kurenai,” she started “Do we have to eat together as a cabin, or can we go sit with our other friends.”

            “You can eat wherever you want, you don’t have to eat with your cabin.”

            “Great.” Ino winked at her and ran over to get some food. The other girls followed.

            Sasuke wanted to eat alone but Naruto and Suigetsu were determined to include him. They sat on either side of Sasuke at one picnic table, continuing their line of questions directed at him.

            “Where do you want to sit?” Sakura asked Hinata and Karin. She knew Ino could take care of herself flirting with Sai, but Hinata would be too afraid to ask to sit with someone and Karin _only_ knew Naruto and her cabin mates.

            Karin sighed deeply. “I want to sit with Naruto and Sasuke, but _Suigetsu_ is there too.”

            “Hinata?” Sakura prompted.

            “I think we should sit with Naruto.” Hinata blushed, knowing Sakura wouldn’t say anything about it.

            “You’re looking a little red.” Karin commented.

            “It’s just the fire.” Sakura answered for Hinata as they walked over to Naruto’s table.

            “Hello, Sasuke.” Sakura smiled cheerfully, taking the seat across from him.

            A quick pout spread across Karin’s face as Sakura took the seat she wanted. She quickly adjusted herself so Suigetsu wouldn’t see and sat across from Naruto. Hinata sat next to Karin.

            Meanwhile, Sasuke was happy to have the girls there, only because he knew they wouldn’t annoy him as much as Naruto and Suigetsu. “Sakura.” He acknowledged her as she sat down.

            “Did you see me, Sasuke?” Karin asked shyly. Hinata gave a quick wave in his direction.

            “How could he miss you, Four-Eyes.” Asked Suigetsu. “The glare from your glasses could blind a man.”

            “SHUT UP!” she said getting ready to punch him in the arm.

            “That’s enough.” Sasuke said calmly.

            They both stopped fighting immediately. Naruto and Sakura noted the weird chemistry they all had together. When Sasuke went to Forest Hills, the other kids never listened to him like that. Naruto and Kiba were determined to prove they had better ideas than him, and Shikamaru usually did. Even the kids who were less pushy like Choji and Hinata never did _exactly_ as Sasuke said.

            “How was your first day at camp, Naruto?” Hinata asked shyly, surprisingly breaking the silence.

            “It’s fine,” said Naruto between gulps of food. “It’s move in day so it’s not like we get to do anything fun. At least the old man makes good food.”

            Kiba pushed Naruto’s face into his food as he sat down. “Mind if I sit here?” he asked.

            “Kiba!” Hinata said shocked.

            “What the hell, Kiba?” Naruto asked, mouth smeared with mustard.

            “Sorry about that.” Kiba meant it. “Guess I don’t know my own strength.” He made a muscle.

            “Anyway, you can sit here, just don’t cause any more trouble.” Naruto grumbled between bites of food.

            “No promises.” Said Kiba.

            Ino, Sai, Shikamaru, Choji and Shiho were another table. Shikamaru and Choji tried to talk only to each other and Shiho so Ino could talk to Sai. The hard part was when Sai would talk to them, then Ino would shoot her two best friends a death glare. Still, they knew she wanted them there so Sai didn’t feel like he was on a date.

            Of course Tenten and Neji sat together, and Lee tried to get them to sit with Naruto and Sakura, but reluctantly sat down after Neji made it clear he did _not_ want to sit with Naruto. Neji doubled down on his distaste when Hinata joined them. What he didn’t expect was for Omoi and Karui to join them.

            “Sorry,” Started Omoi. “But you seem like a pretty chilled out guy. Can we sit here?”

            “Fine by me,” Neji said shortly.

            Kauri sat down. “So Tenten, who are your friends, or else I’m just going to call them ‘bowl cut’ and ‘moody’.”

            Lee laughed. “Bowl cuts are worn by many great men. I’m Rock Lee.” He cheerfully extended a hand to Karui.

            “I’m Karui.” She laughed back, liking Lee’s positive attitude.

            “Moody?” Neji raised an eyebrow.

            Tenten couldn’t help but laugh.

            “Neji is always like this.” Lee insisted.

            “Oh,” Karui raised an eyebrow at Tenten. “ _This_ is Neji.”

            Neji looked at Tenten. “You told her about me?”

            “She didn’t.” Karui told him. “Shiho mentioned you in passing, she said you guys were all friends.”

            “Karui,” Omoi started calmly. “You’re going to annoy them, and then they’re going to walk away, and then they’re going to tell everyone how rude you’re being, and then people will think I’m rude too, and then we’ll get in trouble, and then we’ll be blacklisted from every camp around.” His voice got more and more panicked as he went on.

            “I can assure you,” Tenten responded kindly, “It won’t happen. Right guys?”

            Lee gave a thumbs up and Neji grumbled something about not caring.

            Karui elbowed Tenten. “Don’t look now, but the hopeless romantic is sitting with the future serial killer.”

            She was right. Temari and Matsuri were sitting at one side of the table while Gaara and Kankuro were sitting across from them. They appeared to be having a rather quiet, tense meal.

            At another table, The Four were acting the exact opposite. They lightly threw food at each other, swore, rough housed, even the girl was in on it, actually she might’ve been the worst.

            Juugo and Kimimaro walked to the picnic tables carrying their own plates of food. Juugo tapped Kimimaro’s arm and gestured to Sasuke’s table. “Look, Sasuke seems to be quite popular here. Maybe we should join him.”

            Kimimaro looked at the table. He was sitting with the loud boy who always got in trouble and the girl who only came to Riceland for the diverse biology courses, plus some kids he didn’t know. They seemed to be handling themselves okay. Then he looked at The Four’s table. Kidomaru had Tayuya in a headlock while Jiroubo scarfed down food and Sakon taunted them all. His eyes narrowed. “You can sit with Sasuke if you want, I think I need to break up whatever is going on over here.”

            Kimimaro put a hard hand on Kidomaru’s back. “Let her go, _now_.”

            “Fuck off, Kimimaro.” Said Tayuya from the headlock. “We’re just messing around.”

            “Yeah, _fuck off_ , Kimimaro.” Sakon imitated his friend.

            Kimimaro slammed down a fist in a swift, graceful movement. “You’re all representing Riceland. Behave, or there will be consequences.”

            “You’re such a wet blanket.” Whined Kidomaru, releasing Tayuya.

            She rubbed her neck and went back to eating. “I could’ve gotten out that myself, I didn’t need your help.”

            Kimimaro didn’t respond, and for a moment he enjoyed the silence that only comes after The Four have been scared straight.

            Meanwhile Juugo joined Sasuke, sitting down next to Karin. “Kimimaro is going to break up The Four. I told him I’d sit here in case you two caused trouble.” He smiled a genuine smile at Karin and Suigetsu. She blushed deeply at the suggestion she needed to be kept under control while he just laughed.

            “Good to see you, Juugo.” It was the kindest thing Sasuke said all night, and though they wouldn’t admit it, Sakura, Naruto, Karin, and Suigetsu were jealous.

            “Likewise. Aren’t you going to introduce me?” He gestured to the Forest Hills kids.

            “Sakura.” Sasuke started pointing at her then the others in turn, “Naruto, Hinata, and Kiba. We all went to Forest Hills together.” He said nothing more.

            The other three Riceland students were quietly eating together and not causing any trouble.

            Finally, Shino sat himself down at a picnic table with one other occupant: Hana Inuzuka. “You’re sitting alone?” he asked her.

            Hana leaned in close. “I’m only telling you this because I know you won’t tell anyone. Kurenai has the hots for the game master, Asuma. That’s why I’m sitting alone.” She winked at him.

            “What about the other counselors?”

            Hana looked over. Itachi, Kabuto, and Baki appeared to be quietly eating their meal while Anko and Gai were engaged in a loud conversation.

            “I don’t think I’m missing anything.” Hana assured him.

            Fuu wandered over and plopped down next to Shino. “Hi, I’m Fuu. You’re a junior counselor, right?” she asked.

            “Yeah.” Hana responded.

            “This is my first time at camp and I already love it. I was wondering what steps I’d have to take to be a counselor my self some day.”

            “Well, you can apply to be a junior counselor when you’re seventeen…” Hana launched into an explanation of the steps Fuu would need to take to be counselor.

            Shino was a little sad he couldn’t have time with her alone, but he knew it wasn’t realistic, at least he’d have all camp to see her.

           


	5. First Night At Camp

After dinner everyone went back to their cabins for an hour of free time until bed.

            Ino giggled as she shut the door to her cabin with a loud bang. “Forehead!” She giggled excitedly, grabbing Sakura’s arms. “Sai didn’t stop smiling at me the whole time.”

            Sakura laughed right along with her.

            Hinata smiled and settled down on the bunk under Ino’s, hugging a stuffed frog.

            “I don’t see what the big deal is,” Karin started confused. “That guy seems to always be smiling.”

            Ino shot her an annoyed look. “Anyway,” she turned her attention back to Sakura. “Any progress for you?”

            “Not really.” Sakura looked down embarrassed and walked to her bunk.

            “He did the _thing_ again.” Hinata said sweetly, hugging the stuffed animal tighter for emphasis.

            “What thing?” Ino had a cheeky look.

            “It was nothing.” Sakura insisted.

            Hinata decided to finish her story when it became clear Sakura wouldn’t. “Sasuke did the _thing_ where he only acknowledges _her_. Karin and I sat down with Sakura and he didn’t say anything to us, until Juugo came over and asked for our names.”

            “Get it girl!” Ino put her hand up to high five Sakura.

            Sakura giggled in response.

            Karin raised her hand confused. “Do you like Sasuke?” she asked Sakura sheepishly.

            Ino laughed loudly. “Most of the girls at Forest Hills had a crush on Sasuke. The thing that makes _Sakura_ special is, she’s the only one he’d give the time of day.”

            “What?” Karin’s stomach sank. She had strong feelings for Sasuke. At Riceland she was the only girl in class he really talked too. She knew he had a life outside of school, she wanted to know about his family, interests, and hobbies, but she never thought much about where Sasuke went to school before Riceland. She figured he was there because he didn’t care about his old school. Now she’s learning he had some sort of connection with Sakura.

            “Ino’s exaggerating.” Sakura insisted, she saw the hurt look in Karin’s eyes. She figured Karin had a crush on Sasuke too, but that was no reason to lose a friend. She spent too long feuding with Ino about Sasuke until they both grew out of that phase. “Sasuke and I were in most of the same classes, and we got paired up a lot for projects, and I was a pretty good babysitter whenever we had to work with Naruto. Those two fight like cats and dogs.” Sakura gave an awkward laugh.

            Karin looked up with a small smile. “I bet Naruto gave him hell.”

            “Speaking of Naruto,” Ino turned, leaned over Hinata’s bed and gave her a devilish look. “How was your dinner with him?”

            Hinata flushed bright red, turned over and buried her head in her pillow.

            Sakura rolled her eyes, a little tired of the gossip. “She sat and ate with him and actually managed to say a few words. Progress.”

            “Damn girl, I keep telling you, you have to be brave.” Ino sat on the bed and put a hand on Hinata’s back.

            “You like Naruto? Ew.” Karin laughed.

            Hinata looked up at Sakura. “YOU WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO TELL ANYONE!” She gasped out before burying her head back in the pillow.

            “I didn’t –“ Sakura insisted.

            “Honey,” Ino started. “Everybody knows _but_ Naruto. Trust me, I don’t think he’ll catch on until you’re ready.”

            “EVERYONE?”

            “Not everyone,” Sakura insisted, sitting on Hinata’s bed and rubbing her back. “The people who know…don’t really care enough to say anything. And the people who don’t know by now aren’t going to catch on any time soon.”

            “No one at Riceland knows you like him.” Karin offered trying to be helpful.

            Hinata didn’t move her face from the pillow.

            “I can tell you things about Naruto no one else knows.”

            Hinata shot up and gave Karin a questioning look.

            Ino winked at Karin as a way to say, “Keep talking.”

            “I’ll tell you anything you want to know, as long as it’s not too personal. You seem pretty nice and I know Naruto considers you a friend. So I don’t see any harm in it.”

            Hinata blushed. The thought of being able to ask Naruto’s cousin anything she wanted about him was too much. “Thank you!” She gasped out.

            Over in the other cabin, the girls were having a much quieter night. Shiho was reading one of the many books she brought with her to camp. Matsuri was writing in her diary. Tenten was reading her favorite sports magazine. Karui was writing a letter to her parents.

            “So that Neji is certainly cute.” Karui said to no one in particular, but it was clearly geared toward Tenten.

            Tenten didn’t take the bait.

            “Not as cute as Gaara.” Matsuri said as she wrote, presumably something about Gaara, in her diary.

            Karui ignored it. “He’s certainly mood though, he’s lucky Lee told me his real name, or else he would’ve been ‘Moody’ for the rest of camp.”

            “He’s not as bad as he seems.” Tenten grumbled out, while reading her magazine. “He spent a long day in the car with Lee and Counselor Gai. That could tire anyone out.”

            “You seem to know a lot about him.” Karui said suggestively.

            Tenten grunted and put down her magazine. “What about you? You seem pretty close with Omoi.”

            Karui laughed it off. “This is really lame but…we have the same favorite teacher. You know the guy who sang the camp song?”

            “You know Killer B? As in outside of camp?” Now Tenten was interested. Killer B Had long been a staple of camp Hidden Leaf. He was a terrible singer, and everyone wanted to know how he got the job and why he was allowed to come back every year. More so, they wondered what he did when he wasn’t singing cheesy camp songs in the wrong key.

            “Believe it or not, he’s the music teacher at Cloudy Mountain. He’s like family to our principal and there’s a rumor that’s how he got the job. It’s more of a music appreciation class since he can’t carry a tune. Omoi and I love that class, B really knows his stuff when he’s _appreciating_ music. He just can’t _play_ it to save his life. Anyway, B told Omoi, Fuu, and I he had a job here, asked us to check it out. It’s been okay so far, minus the drama.” Karui gave Tenten a wink.

            “For someone who claims to hate drama, you sure are interested in it.” Shiho said without taking her eyes off her book.

            “What can I say, it’s like reality TV. I don’t want to live it, but I want to see it all unfold.”

            “Well, If you’re interested in relationships,” Matsuri looked up from her diary. “I’ll be in one with Gaara by the end of camp. That’s a promise.”

            The other girls didn’t know what to say. Matsuri seemed like a nice girl, if not a little delusional.

            Even Karui tuned down her response. “Okay, I’ll watch for the signs of a budding relationship.”

            Over with the younger boys, Suigetsu and Naruto had been questioning Sasuke all day. The two were playing cards together and tried to get Sasuke to join them, but he said he wasn’t interested. He got ready for bed knowing the only way they’d leave him alone is if he went to sleep. Gaara was stoney quiet, he sat in his bed watching them all.

            Sasuke was actually getting more annoyed by the strange new boy who came into his life. The look of silent judgment on his face was really starting to get to Sasuke.

            “Hey…you,” Sasuke started realizing the boy had never introduced himself. “What’s your name?”

            “Gaara.” Gaara stated simply.

            “Okay…who were the people you ate dinner with?” Sasuke tried to sound commanding but realized he was interrogating the kid for no other reason other than that he looked creepy.

            “My brother and sister. The other girl is Matsuri. She goes to school with us.”

            “That’s great!” Started Naruto, not at all catching on to Gaara’s chilling tone. “I brought my cousin, Karin! I’m so glad she’s getting to meet all of my friends.”

            “We’re not.” Suigetsu winked.

            “I don’t really think of them as family.” Gaara said flatly.

            “Lighten up a little, buddy, you’re at camp.” Suigetsu said walking over to Gaara and trying to put a hand on his shoulder.

            “Don’t tell me what to do.” Gaara batted away Suigetsu’s hand. His tone was icy now. If looks could kill, Suigetsu would’ve been crucified.

            “Bad idea, Suigetsu.” Said Sasuke who decided he wasn’t going to get any more information out of Gaara. He got in bed and let sleep take over.

            The boys in Cabin One were the laziest, or best behaved, cabin. Shikamaru was already asleep. Choji was eating as quietly as he possibly could in his bunk and reading a comic book. Sai was drawing whatever came into his head. Omoi relaxed and listened to the playlist Killer B made him for the summer.

            There was some drama in Cabin Two when Lee tried to kill a bug and Shino stopped him. Shino, generally got frustrated when people were afraid of bugs, especially when they were harmless. A little cricket couldn’t hurt anyone. Shino carried it gently to the window. It gave a chirp that Shino secretly hoped was its way of saying “thank you.”

            He hated how people treated him like a freak for loving bugs. It’s not like he was letting a black widow sleep in the room with them.

            Neji reprimanded Lee for his behavior. “Next time, don’t cause a scene.” He said from his bed underneath Lee’s. He didn’t even bother to look up from his school copy of _“Frankenstein.”_

            Lee dangled his head down from the top bunk, saluted, and went back to doing crunches.

            Kiba was just about tired of Neji’s holier-than-thou attitude. He looked at the book Neji was reading and decided to comment. “ _Frankenstein_? That makes sense you’re reading it, you two kind of look alike.” It was low to insult Neji’s looks, especially since Neji was rather attractive, but Kiba was grasping at straws.

           

            Neji, again didn’t look up from his book. “Considering I’m not German-Swiss or a full grown adult, I don’t see how I could look like him.”

            Kiba made a confused noise, his whole knowledge of Frankenstein came from pop culture.

            Neji went on, still reading. “I’m assuming you mean Frankenstein’s Monster. Frankenstein is the scientist, not the monster.”

            “No,” Shino disagreed. “Frankenstein _is_ the monster.”

            “You don’t understand –“ Neji started, glaring at Shino.

            “The man robbed graves, brought life into the world, rejected it once he saw it as ugly and unnatural, and abandoned let it fend for itself. Then, once the monster swears revenge and starts killing, Frankenstein doesn’t speak up, he just avoids the problem. He doesn’t plan to kill the monster until it finally kills everyone he cares about. Frankenstein _is_ the monster.”

            They all stared at Shino in silence for a moment.

            “Wow. That’s good stuff.” Lee said amazed at how Shino was able to recite the argument like the human version of sparknotes. Lee nudged Neji. “You should tell that to Tenten when you meet up to talk about the book.”

            Maybe, Kiba didn’t know classic literature, but he did know people. He took his chance. “You seem to be pretty close with Tenten.”

            “She’s a friend.” Neji narrowed his eyes at the implication he and Tenten were somehow in a secret relationship.

            Lee didn’t help any when he said, “That’s the first time I’ve heard you call anyone a friend.”

            Kiba laughed.

            Neji bristled. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re my friend.” He pointed out.

            Lee tried to hide his joy. “Really?” He smiled wide and started happily shaking on the bed.

            “Yes, really. Now stop making such a big deal out of it.” Neji shot up to him, then he went back to his book.

            With the older girls, Tayuya stretched out her neck. “Don’t tell them this,” she said directed at Kin as they walked into the cabin. “But I miss the guys already. I was really hoping we could raise hell.”

            “You have all camp.” Kin gave her a sympathetic smile and gestured for Tayuya to sit down on the lower bunk. Then she started rubbing Tayuya’s neck for her.

            “Thanks girl.”

            Temari laid down on her own lower bunk, taking off her shoes and putting her feet up. “Why don’t you sneak out if you miss them so much?” Temari asked with a smile. “We’ve already established Anko couldn’t care less about the rules and you don’t seem like the type to follow them anyway.”

            Tayuya got an intense glint her eye. “Kimimaro.”

            “Yikes.” Fuu looked Tayuya in the eye. “Ex-boyfriend?”

            “No!” It came out more intensely than Tayuya planned.

            Kin put her hand over her mouth to cover a giggle in response.

            Tayuya slapped her on the arm.

            Fuu and Temari gave her a questioning look for the outburst.

            “He’s Headmaster Orochimaru’s prized student. He thinks the sun shines out of Orochimaru’s ass, and vice versa. He’s the biggest wet blanket at Riceland. He’s –“

            “You’ve given him a lot of thought.” Temari commented.

            “He’s always around, spoiling the fun!” Tayuya waved her arms for emphasis, Kin tried to keep her still, trying to work out the knots in her neck.

            “Do you think about him a lot?” Temari’s next question had a suggestive tone.

            “What about those other guys you’re hanging out with?” Fuu asked, truly innocently.

            Tayuya was about to get mad at the first question, but the second caught her off guard so bad she started laughing. “What, no, ew gross.” She was sobbing laughing at this point. She composed herself and answered. “No, they’re like…not brothers…maybe weird cousins…yeah, that’s it. They’re like weird cousins to me. How did you know that girl who sat with you?” Tayuya asked Temari. “She doesn’t look like family, but looking at your brothers, they don’t really look like family either.”

            “That’s Matsuri.” Temari sighed out. “She goes to Wind Valley with us. She’s Gaara’s age and she’s like the only kid in his grade who’s not terrified of him. She also has the world’s most obvious crush on him.”

            “How does he feel about that?” asked Kin in disbelief. From the fake calligraphy tattoo to the raccoon eyeliner, it seemed like Gaara wanted the other kids to be afraid of him.

            “He tolerates her. I think it’s good for him to interact with someone who isn’t afraid of him. I think there is some sort of mutual respect there. Even if she respects him more than he does her.”

            “Speaking of obvious crushes,” Fuu started. “Did you see the kid with the pineapple hair staring at you?”

            “I missed it.” It was Temari’s honest answer. “Lots of guys stare at me _especially_ when I’m with my brothers. I know I’m gorgeous, but don’t get your hopes up.”

            Kimimaro shut his eyes tight in his bunk. He was really tired of the three male members of The Four raising hell. Everything they did was loud, except for maybe Ukon, who only went along with their antics because he was literally attached to his brother. Ukon developed the amazing ability to sleep through anything and Kimimaro envied him. Meanwhile Sakon was a loud talker, Jiroubo a loud eater, and Kidomaru had the loudest laugh Kimimaro had ever heard.

            Zaku was probably the only loud member of the next cabin, and Dosu made it _very_ clear he wouldn’t cause trouble, so they were having a quiet night in. Juugo was counting out his medications and sorting them for the week. Kankuro took his makeup off and took out a pen, drawing in a small sketchbook. Dosu was reading _Lord of the Flies,_ something required by Riceland and suggested that Zaku do the same. Zaku grumbled and took out the book, figuring the boring act of reading would put him right to sleep.

 


	6. Welcome to the Great Outdoors

The campers were all called out of bed by a trumpet solo playing over loudspeakers. They washed the sleep from their faces and came out of the cabins to greet the day. They barely talked during breakfast, all tired from staying up late, too excited to sleep the night before. Even Ino could barley muster up something to say to Sai.  
Anko got together with Baki, Kabuto, and Ibiki, he was the nature expert. “Okay campers, if you’re with our groups, clean up and get moving, we have a nature hike to take.” Said Ibiki.  
“At least it’s a nice, easy activity to start the day with.” Shrugged Temari, giving her brother a wave.  
“I can’t wait!” Fuu responded throwing her arms around Temari.  
Temari gave a friendly, exaggerated eye roll and smiled at Fuu before walking over to her Kankuro.  
Kin joined Dosu and Zaku, chatting idly about camp.  
Tayuya ran over to the rest of The Four and immediately they started messing with her. Kidomaru held her in a headlock and started messing with her hair, she swore at him, but she looked happy. She bit his arm.  
“Crazy bitch.” Kidomaru said, pulling his arm away with a hint of a smile.  
“You asked for it, spider-shit.” She laughed at him.  
“Tayuya, girls shouldn’t –“ Jiroubo started.  
“Shut up, fat ass!”  
Sakon just laughed.  
Kimimaro cleared his throat at them. Juugo stood beside him with an awkward smile.  
The Four Gave them nasty looks, Tayuya made sure to flip Kimimaro off for good measure.  
Baki stared at the Four.  
“You’re not going to do anything about that?” Ibiki asked Anko.  
“Nah, I have a feeling they’ll sort out whatever this is eventually.”  
“And if it results in violence?”  
“We’ll figure something out.” Anko looked out her nails entirely uninterested in their petty squabble.  
“I’ll be sure to tell Headmaster Orochimaru about it.” Kabuto said.  
Tayuya put her middle finger down, the rest of the Four looked guilty and walked further away from Kabuto.  
“He.” Anko started, “Isn’t in charge of this camp.”  
“He’s assisting Camp Director Tsunade.” Kabuto said simply.  
Anko clenched her jaw. “He’s not their parents either.”  
“Their parents sent them here for structure, much like they sent them to Riceland for structure, the way I see it, he’ll be notified sooner or later.”  
“Whatever. Ibiki, can we start this damn walk already?”  
“Cursing in front of the kids?” Ibiki raised an eyebrow.  
“They’re high schoolers. The redhead knows more four-letter words than I do.” Anko gestured to Tayuya. “Besides, you swear in front of them too.”  
Ibiki looked at them, taking on a much sterner personality. “Alright you kids, stop playing grab-ass and listen up, we’re going for a hike. Don’t think this is going to be a nice, leisurely stroll in the woods, because I’m going to teach you something.”  
Fuu saluted enthusiastically.  
Ibiki raised his eyebrows at her before realizing she was genuine. “Alright, let’s move out.”  
Temari caught up with Kankuro. “Have you been able to spend much time with Gaara?” She asked him hopefully as they started walking.  
“Barely, I’ve mostly been stuck with these guys.” Kankuro gestured to the Riceland kids.  
“I guess we’re all split up.” Temari said sadly. “Even Matsuri is the only Wind Valley girl in her age group.”  
“You’re worried about her?” Kankuro really didn’t give her much thought.  
Temari rolled her eyes. “She’s not afraid of Gaara, she cares about him, and she’s sweet. Yes, I’m worried about her.”  
“Well, it’s not like they’re going to start dating or even being friends. Gaara hates everyone.”  
“He doesn’t hate Mom.”  
“When is the last time he went to see Mom?”  
“The last time we all went to see Mom, a few weeks before camp. I got him some stationary so he could write her at the hospital and he actually took it from me.”  
Ibiki called them out of their private conversation. “Hey, private school kids. Pay attention,” he gestured to the ground. “Mushrooms.”  
“Are they the ones you can eat?” Asked Fuu excitedly.  
“No,” Ibiki blinked slowly. “They’re-.”  
“Are they the kind that make you hallucinate?” Zaku asked, earning him a stern hand on his shoulder from Dosu and a giggle from Kin.  
“No, they’re the kind that will make your throat swell up if so much as lick them.”  
“So you can eat them, but only once?” Kankuro asked, revealing his inner smartass. It earned a laugh from most of Riceland kids and even his sister.  
“I guess that’s one way to put it.” Ibiki groaned.  
Fuu wrote down “Don’t eat the mushrooms.” In her notebook.  
Juugo asked her to share her notes with him and she obliged, happy to have someone to walk with and talk to.  
Even Kimimaro didn’t mind her. She was loud, but friendly, cheerful, and kind to Juugo.  
Down by the lake, the younger boys were getting into their canoes down at the lake. It was fairly small, they could see to the other end, a dock where tourists came to relax on the lake for an afternoon.  
There were a set of small, 2 person canoes lined up on the dock on their side of the shore.  
“Alright campers, safety first. Everyone needs a life jacket!” Gai modeled his while Kakashi got into a canoe, sans-life jacket.  
“What about him?” asked Omoi, pointing to Kakashi.  
Gai’s face dropped. “Kakashi is a counselor and therefore, doesn’t have to follow the rules for campers, but he could certainly set a better example.”  
Kakashi shrugged, took out his book, and started reading.  
Itachi was the odd man out, he decided to stay on shore with the life guard, Kisame, in case of an emergency.  
Everyone put on their life jackets, even Gaara who seemed like he couldn’t care less about what his counselors were saying.  
Lee called out to Neji to share a canoe with him. Neji sighed and walked over, he’d rather share a canoe with Lee than anyone else.  
Shino paired off with Kiba because someone had to keep an eye on him.  
Choji and Shikamaru were practically joined at the hip, so they got into a canoe.  
Sai smiled at Omoi and gestured for him to get in. Omoi shrugged and decided, he could be friends with Sai. They were both artistically inclined, after all.  
Somehow Sasuke knew this was going to happen. He was going to be stuck with either Naruto or Suigetsu. Gaara was still there too, although he really didn’t want to be stuck in a boat with that psycho either. After all, the evil you know is better than the evil you don’t. He thought about staying on shore, but didn’t really want to stay with his brother.  
Gaara glared at the 3 other boys.  
Naruto just smiled back at him. “Hey, Gaara. You want to share a canoe with me?” He handed Gaara a paddle.  
Gaara blinked at him slowly, did this boy just smile at him? And ask him to do something together?  
“Come on,” Naruto grabbed his arm. “It will be fun!”  
Is this boy touching him? Gaara was so surprised all he could do was go along with it. He got into the canoe with Naruto.  
Suigetsu smiled at Sasuke. “Guess that means we’re together, buddy.”  
Sasuke grunted and got into the canoe.  
It was better than he expected, the weather was nice, sunny but cool. Even Suigetsu was quiet for most of the time, in awe of the beauty of nature. Sasuke allowed himself to enjoy the time on the lake.  
Lee couldn’t paddle right, at least according to Neji. He was either too fast or too slow, and couldn’t synch up with his partner.  
Kiba kept rocking the boat, he even splashed Neji with water from his paddle, until Shino stopped him.  
Omoi was a little creeped out by Sai, who kept looking back at him and smiling without saying anything.  
Choji and Shikamaru rowed the canoe to the middle of the lake and stopped, with Shikamaru taking a nap while Choji ate the snack he snuck into the boat.  
Even Gaara was in a pretty good mood, he didn’t talk, but that means he didn’t threaten anyone either.  
Meanwhile, the younger girls were braving the rock wall. It wasn’t very high, only 40 feet, but it seemed like it. When they got to the top they strapped into another clip, and zip-lined down to another tower located across the field. Kurenai explained that she would belay Hana to the top, then Hana would stay up there and assist the girls in clipping into the zip line. Another counselor would be waiting for them at the tower on the other end.  
“Frankly, I’ll pass.” Said Shiho the moment they got out there. She sat on the ground, crossing her legs and taking out a book.  
“You brought a book to the rock wall?” Tenten asked in disbelief.  
“I knew I wasn’t climbing.” Shiho shrugged.  
“Why? Scared?” asked Ino.  
“I don’t really feel like wasting energy to climb a wall only to come back down.”  
“Why are you even at camp?” Asked Karin, who understood that they would be doing a lot more physical activity than this.  
Shiho put down her book. “I like hiking, I like learning about all the plants and animals, I like making arts and crafts, I like taking a nice leisurely row in a canoe. I don’t like getting sweaty, out of breath, or frankly, making a mess of myself just for the sake of competition.”  
Kurenai let out a small sigh. “Okay, Shiho is not climbing. Anyone else.”  
Hinata was about to raise her hand when Ino pulled it back down.  
“You can do this.” Ino hissed at her. “This is your year.”  
Hinata gulped, but she didn’t put her hand back up.  
“Okay,” Kurenai started, “In that case, who wants to go first?”  
“I do!” Tenten practically leapt out of her shoes with excitement.  
“Very well,” Kurenai helped strap Tenten into the harness. “Shiho, do you want to learn how to belay?”  
Shiho put her book down. “That sounds informative.” She got up and stood behind Kurenai.  
Tenten quickly made it up the wall. The way she moved was energizing, it was tight ant tactical, like she had a computer in her brain that let her know exactly where to put her hand next. She gave a cheer as she made it to the top.  
The rest of the Forest Hills girls cheered her on.  
Karui smiled up at her “Not bad, Space Buns!”  
“That might actually be a new camp record for girls in your age group.” Said Hana looking at her stopwatch. She strapped Tenten into the harness and moved out of her way. “Jump when you’re ready.”  
Tenten gave a light jump and let the zip line carry her to the other side of the field. She let out a happy scream and laughed the whole way. On the other side, she was pleasantly surprised to see Tsunade.  
“Camp director Tsunade!” She said in greeting.  
“That was some climbing.” Tsunade helped her out of her harness.  
Tenten beamed with pride. “What are you doing here?”  
“Do you have any idea how boring my job can be? I wanted to do something more hands on, like this.” Tsunade gestured for her to walk down the stairs at the back of the tower.  
“Now that I’m done climbing, I don’t have to go back to the ground do I? Can’t I just wait for the other climbers up here?”  
“I don’t see a problem with it.” Tsunade said and radioed Kurenai that Tenten would be staying in the tower.  
Karui climbed up next, nearly tying Tenten’s record. She high-fived Tenten as she arrived to the other tower on the zip line.  
Matsuri was the next to climb up, a little wobbly, but showing no fear as she took the leap on the zip line.  
Sakura climbed up. She took longer than the others, really thinking through the path of least resistance. She let Hana strap her in, then took a graceful jump off the tower.  
“Your form was nice.” Tsunade commented. “But you need to work on your upper body strength.”  
“O-okay.” Sakura wasn’t expecting feedback from the camp director she looked up to.  
Karin climbed up next, copying the path Sakura took, but more unsure. She gave a hesitant jump off the tower and zip lined to the other side.  
Sakura hugged her. “You did great!”  
“I followed your path.” Karin smiled back.  
On the ground, only Ino and Hinata were left to climb.  
“Come on, Hinata. This is your year, you can do this.”  
“I really don’t know –“  
“Come on, it’s perfectly safe. Do you think Counselor Kurenai would lie?”  
Kurenai gave Ino an annoyed look.  
“Look, I’m not climbing up until you do, someone has to cheer you on from the ground.” Ino elbowed Shiho. “Help me out here, girl.”  
Hinata gave a small smile, took a deep breath and let Kurenai strap her in.  
Ino guided her from the bottom, telling her where to put her feet, to use them more, not to let the whole climb depend on her arms. Hinata took longer than everyone, but she finally made it up. She breathed out a heavy sigh.  
“Very good.” Hana said encouragingly.  
“Thank you.” Hinata blushed softly.  
Hana swore she was the cutest little girl she’d ever seen, suddenly the dots connected in her head. “Are you friends with my brother, Kiba?”  
“Yes, ma’mm.” Hinata said, now alert.  
Hana laughed. “You don’t have to call me Ma’mm. Hana is fine. Kiba says you’re the sweetest person at Forest Hills.”  
Hinata blushed more. “Kindness counts. Mean stinks.” She gave an awkward laugh quoting the anti-bullying buzzwords.  
Hana strapped her into the zip line.  
Hinata looked down at the ground. “I don’t have to jump do I?”  
“It’s either that or you climb back down.”  
Neither were good options, in Hinata’s opinion.  
“YOU CAN DO IT HINATA!” Ino called from the bottom of the wall.  
“Frankly, you’re doing great!” Shiho attempted a cheer.  
Hinata waved down at them.  
“When you jump,” Hana started. “It’s the closest, I imagine, we ever get to feel to flying.”  
Hinata liked the description and she jumped, as gracefully as she possibly could, which was actually very graceful, toward the other tower. Hinata actually started smiling as it carried her away. She landed lightly on her feet at the other tower.  
“Better late than never.” Tsunade said, putting a reassuring hand on her back.  
“You did great Hinata!” Sakura hugged her.  
“Nice jumping!” Karin joined in the hug.  
Even Karui and Matsuri gave her a thumbs-up and smiled.  
Tenten gave them a funny look. She didn’t understand why everyone catered to Hinata. She was holding everyone up with her fear and slow climbing, she should’ve just stayed with Shiho. She especially couldn’t understand why Sakura had such a soft spot for Neji’s crybaby cousin.  
It didn’t take long for Ino to climb up and zip line over. She landed gracefully with a spring in her step and addressed Tenten directly. “You have got to work on Shiho’s vocabulary. She’s stiffer than a ruler, nice though.”  
That was an Ino compliment, blatantly honest criticism, mixed with a sincere kindness.  
“Thanks for the tip.” Said Tenten.  
Ino wrapped her arm around Hinata. “I told you this was your year.”  
Tenten looked away and she noticed the four older girls and their counselor coming toward the rock wall.  
“Looks like the next group is coming in,” Tsunade started. “Alright, tea party is over, everyone out of my tower.” She said jovially.  
The younger girls made their way down the stairs.  
“Kauri!” Fuu cried out with a wave.  
“Fuu!” It seemed like forever since Karui saw Fuu. She ran right over to her.  
“Oooh, the zip line looks fun! We just finished our nature hike!”  
The other girls, including Shiho and the counselors made their way over to the group of older girls.  
“How was that?”  
“She took notes on everything.” Temari said with a smile.  
Shiho’s face lit up and she pulled out a notebook.  
“She didn’t even have to take notes.” Kin assured everyone who seemed bummed their nature hike would turn into homework.  
“Did you enjoy the walk, Temari?” Matsuri asked.  
“It was nice. I got to walk with my brother.”  
A huge smile filled up Matsuri’s face. She opened her mouth to speak, but Temari interrupted her.  
“Kankuro, not Gaara. We hiked with the boys in our age group.”  
Matsuri looked down sadly, then she thougth about it, and her face lit up again. “Does that mean we’re hiking with the boys our age?” she asked Kurenai.  
“It’s actually our next activity.” Kurenai said.  
Over at the lake the younger boys switched out with the older boys.  
Kimimaro was thankful for some peace and quiet as he rowed in a canoe with Juugo.  
Dosu weighed his options. Zaku was his friend, but he was tired of babysitting him, and if they rode together the Wind Valley boy would have to ride with one of The Four. Zaku looked up to The Four in his own strange way. So Dosu knew what he had to do. “Kankuro, want to be my partner?”  
“Sure, no problem.” Kankuro said grateful to not be stuck with The Four or Zaku.  
Zaku rowed with Sakon and Jiroubo rowed with Kidomaru. They kept shaking the boat and splashing each other with their paddles. Sakon even brazenly splashed water at Kimimaro.  
Kimimaro sighed. Somehow he knew the roughhousing would be even worse if Tayuya was there. She didn’t know when to quit.  
The younger girls were already waiting for their hike to start when the boys emerged. Everyone was dry except for Neji, Kiba, and Shino. Neji’s clothes were a little damp from intentional splashing by Kiba, and accidentally damp from Lee’s over-enthusiastic paddling. Kiba and Shino were completely soaked with water.  
Hana gave one look at them and instantly knew what happened. “Kiba, what did you get Shino into?”  
Shino gave a barely visible blush. This is why he loved Hana, she knew him so well.  
“Nothing!”  
“Never mind, I know what you did, you rocked the boat, tried to splash other campers and landed both you and Shino in the water.”  
Neji smirked at the tongue-lashing Hana just gave her brother.  
Kiba glared at him.  
Ibiki cleared his throat. “Am I going to be able to teach you kids something about nature or are we going to stand around and speculate about how these two young men got wet?”  
Everyone looked down, guilty and followed Ibiki.  
They quickly fell into groups. Ino grabbed Sai and hung onto him. Choji and Shikamaru lagged toward the back of the group. Omoi decided to walk with them since it was clear Sai was…busy. Karui decided she wanted to walk with Omoi too. Neji immediately went to Tenten, who was standing with Shiho at the front of the group. Kiba and Shino stayed near Hana who decided she wanted to keep an eye on her brother.  
The biggest group was Sasuke’s. He’d have given anything to be left alone but that was clearly unrealistic. Of course Naruto, Suigetsu, Karin, and Sakura wanted to be with him, but Naruto always attracted Hinata, and his new insistence that Gaara walk with them meant both he and Matsuri were crowding Sasuke too.  
Lucky for Sasuke, everyone was too scared to talk much after Ibiki’s scolding. Their walk was relatively uneventful with Ibiki teaching them about what was poisonous in the forest.  
Unfortunately for Sasuke, his counselors announced their next activity would be pool time, with everyone. This was his personal hell.  
Ino was thrilled she couldn’t wait for Sai to see her in a bikini. They got back to the cabins from their nature walk and she ran over to her overflowing dresser. “Okay forehead, which one should I wear?” She held up two string bikinis, one white and another purple.  
“The white is cute.” Sakura said, taking out her own green tankini she got with her mom before coming to camp.  
Karin already changed, into her black and white striped tankini with swim shorts.  
They heard a loud squeak from the corner, Hinata was covering her chest.  
“Hinata, what’s wrong?” Said Sakura alarmed.  
The other two girls crowded around her.  
“I-it doesn’t-t fit-t.” Hinata stuttered out, she looked like she was on the verge of tears.  
“What are you talking about?” Ino looked at the bottom part of the plain, black, racer-back speedo Hinata was wearing. “It looks fine to me.”  
Hinata removed her hands from her chest and kept looking down, a blush covered her face. The top had no support and Hinata was clearly poking through it. It was clear that if she tried to move in the suit, her boobs would fall out.  
“Damn girl,” Ino said with a smile. “When did you get those?”  
Hinata blushed more.  
“Ino, not appropriate.” Sakura said. “How long have you had that suit Hinata?”  
“Just since last year.” Hinata said.  
“And you didn’t try it on before you came here? I bet a bunch of your shirts from last year don’t fit anymore, you didn’t notice that?”  
“I was hoping…” Hinata looked down and blushed. “…it would still fit because if it didn’t, I’d have to ask my dad to take me shopping and…” Hinata didn’t need finish her sentence.  
Hinata’s dad was cold and distant. While Sakura and Ino were embarrassed by their own dads smothering them too much, they were always comfortable talking to them when they needed something. Talking to Hinata’s dad was like going to the principal’s office.  
“Well,” Said Ino with a heavy sigh. “You can’t go swimming in that.”  
“I’d offer you something of mine,” Karin started, trying to be helpful. “But I don’t think it would fit.”  
Sakura and Ino looked at their own swimsuits, they wouldn’t be any help either.  
They heard a knock at their door. “Are you girls ready to go? The other cabin already has their things together. They’re waiting outside.” It was Counselor Kurenai.  
“Ummm, Hinata isn’t feeling well.” Said Karin quickly.  
At that, Kurenai immediately opened the door.  
Hinata’s hands flew up to cover her chest, but it was too late.  
Kurenai let out a small gasp. “Oh dear.” She came over to Hinata and felt her head. “You do feel a little warm. Put your clothes back on. I’ll take you to the nurse and then we may need to go into town to get you some medicine.” She winked at Hinata. Then she turned to the other girls. “I’m going back to my cabin to get my keys, the rest of you girls should finish changing and tell Hana to take you to the pool.”  
Hinata went to Kurenai’s cabin after the other girls left. “Counselor Kurenai, I don’t feel sick, Karin made that up.”  
Kurenai already had her purse and keys. “Oh, honey, I know. Your bathing suit doesn’t fit, I’m taking you to get a new one.”  
“Are you allowed to do that?”  
“I won’t tell if you won’t. And trust me, Camp Director Tsunade will understand.”  
Kurenai put Hinata in her car and drove to the camp entrance. They went inside to Tsunade’s office to talk to her.  
“Shouldn’t you be at the pool right now?” Tsunade checked her computer.  
“We had a bit of a wardrobe problem. Hinata just learned her swimsuit from last year doesn’t fit anymore.”  
Tsunade looked at Hinata’s chest and sighed. “Let me guess, you developed this year, faster than any other girls your age, and it’s a big change and you don’t know how to deal with the attention so you just wear baggy clothes all the time? And you haven’t put on a swimsuit since last year and were too afraid to try it on? And now Kurenai wants to take you to get a new one?”  
Hinata blushed and nodded her head.  
Tsunade sighed again. “Well, you shouldn’t be ashamed, but I’ve been there. It gets better.” She turned her attention to Kurenai. “Okay, you have an hour, don’t let the other campers know I let you do this.”


	7. Chicken Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this fic is less of a plot driven story, as much as it is the campers meandering along doing camp stuff.   
> So chapters will be them moving from one activity to the next (or whenever I feel there's an appropriate stopping point.) enjoy, I hope to update more in the new year.

There was not enough supervision at the pool as there should have been, not for more than 30 kids. Since there was a lifeguard on duty to supervise, only the three junior counselors were there with the campers. Itachi didn’t mind, he was pretty good friends with the life guard, Kisame. Hana knew her girls wouldn’t get into too much trouble, though she was worried about Kiba. Kabuto just liked being in charge.

            Of course, the 4 were already roughhousing. Kidomaru had stolen Tayuya’s hat and Sakon was determined to keep it away from her. Jirobou made a big deal about being a gentleman and letting Tayuya climb on his shoulders so she could reach. That only led to Sakon getting on Kidomaru’s shoulders. Sakon and Tayuya grappled and she was able to get the upper hand, pushing him over and yelling “Chicken Fight!”

            Everything went downhill from there.

            “Should we stop them?” asked Hana.

            Itachi seemed to have no interest in stopping it and Kabuto was taking notes. Hana gave him a questioning look.

            “It’s important to see what the inmates do when the jailors are not around.” He said simply.

            Hana sighed. “It’s a summer camp, not a prison. Kisame, you’re the lifeguard. What do you think?”

            Kisame looked unhappy to be drawn out of his conversation with Itachi. “As long as no one runs around the pool, jumps in the shallow end, starts forcing someone else under, or loses consciousness, I’m fine.” He turned his direction to the kids. “You hear that you little punks? Those are the rules.”

            The Four Cheered.

            “Anyone else want in?” Kidomaru yelled.

            Zaku tapped Kin on the shoulder and gestured for her to join him in the chicken fight. Dosu rolled his eyes and got out of the pool. He didn’t need this in his life.

            “Oooh! I want to play! Juugo?” Fuu asked, trying to get him as her partner.

            “Sorry, I don’t really like games like that.” Juugo said.

            “That’s okay! Kimimaro?”

            Kimimaro looked at The Four he didn’t liked getting involved with their antics, but maybe if he and Fuu beat them, they’d stop roughhousing. “Okay.”

            “I can keep score.” Juugo offered.

            Kiba smiled, he loved stuff like this. Now all he needed was a partner. “Shino?”

            “Not a chance in hell.” Said Shino as he got out of the water and sat by Hana.

            Kiba looked at everyone else he had to choose from. “Naruto, you want in on this?”

            Naruto also loved stuff like this, especially when everyone could join in. “Yeah, let’s all do it!” Naruto addressed the crowd in the pool around himself and Sasuke, which consisted of Gaara, Matsuri, Suigetsu, Karin, and Sakura.

            “Sounds fun.” Said Gaara, there was still a cold edge to his voice but there was also a hint of amusement. This boy was really trying to be his friend.

            “I call Gaara as a partner!” Matsuri said holding onto his arm.

            Gaara didn’t know how to make Matsuri afraid of him, so he just went with it. Another thing throwing him off, his arm had never been this close to a girl’s chest before, and certainly not when she was in a bikini. “Fine.” Gaara said.

            Temari, who always watched her brother closely became immediately concerned. Gaara could really do some damage to some of these kids, even if he was a base for Matsuri. She leapt up from the lawn chair she was sitting in and got in the pool with Kankuro. “Kankuro, we have to do something.” She stressed to him.

            “So, you want to be a team?” Kankuro asked.

            Temari didn’t see another way.

            “Who do you want to be with, Sasuke?” asked Sakura.

            Sasuke looked at his options. He wanted to beat Naruto, he didn’t mind Sakura and Karin, but he needed someone who was strong and would do everything he said. “Suigetsu.”

            Suigetsu said, “Yes!” and stuck his tongue out at Karin.

            Karin gritted her teeth.

            “You want to be on my team?” Naruto asked her.

            “Hey, what about me? I asked you first!” Kiba yelled at him.

            “Oh yeah.” Naruto said looking at Kiba.

            “Go be with Kiba.” Sakura said. “Karin and I will be a team.” Sakura didn’t really want to chicken fight, but if it was something she could do with Sasuke, and if it was something _Karin_ wanted to do with Sasuke, she’d do it.

            If this was going to be a real competition, Lee wanted in. “Neji! Let’s do this.”

            Neji didn’t want to chicken fight, he thought it was a stupid waste of time until he saw Kiba and Naruto gearing up. Neji grunted a response to Lee.

            “Looks like your boyfriend is going to compete without you.” Karui said to Tenten.

            Tenten ignored the implication. “He picked Lee, the other person I work best with. I’d partner with Shiho, but….” Tenten gestured to Shiho who was dangling her legs in the water while reading a book.

            “Yeah, I don’t think Omoi is going to do this either.” Karui gestured to Omoi who was napping in a lawn chair next to Choji and Shikamaru. “Partners?” She asked Tenten.

            “Partners.” Tenten agreed.

            Ino saw this as a golden opportunity to get to sit on Sai’s shoulders. She strutted over to him. “Sai, would you like to be my partner?”

            “Sounds fun.” He said flashing his smile.

            “Okay,” Fuu started. “This is how it will work: two teams compete at a time. If you get knocked off, your team is out. If you win, you move on to the next round. Alright Juugo, who goes first?”

            Juugo hated making these decisions he gave Fuu a pained look.

            “Okay, I’ll start. Let’s go with…Sakon and Kidomaru versus…those two!” She pointed to Ino and Sai.

            Ino climbed on Sai’s shoulders, enjoying the skin on skin contact.

She grappled with Sakon the best she could, but his team had the height advantage. Ino figured out her opponent would probably play dirty so she beat him to it, scratching him.

            Sakon glared at her and brought her down, using the strap of her bikini to pull her off Sai’s shoulders. Ino’s hands went to her top as she went down.

            Ino didn’t flash anyone, and Sai didn’t seem to care they’d lost, so she called it a win. Sai helped her up after she fell, smiling and led her over to the lawn chairs so they could watch the rest of the battles with Shikamaru and Choji.

            “Why did you feel the need to participate in that?” Shikamaru asked her, knowing she didn’t normally get involved in stuff like this.

            “I wanted to sit on Sai’s shoulders, duh.” She whispered at him. “And if you would’ve played, maybe you could’ve partnered with that hot Wind Valley girl.”

            Shikamaru blushed.

            Fuu pointed to the next group. “Okay, next we have Tayuya and Jiroubo versus Zaku and Kin.”

            Tayuya was short, but Jiroubo’s height made up for it.

            “You’re going down.” She yelled from Jiroubo’s shoulders.

            “Bring it on, babe.” Said Kin, who was probably the only person who could call Tayuya “babe” and not get murdered.

            Then it happened. Kimimaro _laughed._ Kin would pay for this.

            Tayuya turned into a fireball of chaotic energy. She quickly knocked Kin off Zaku’s shoulders and into the water.

            Kin and Zaku looked a little sad to be done with the competition so early. They got up and joined Dosu watching the rest of the fights.

            “Next up is…Karui’s team,” Fuu pointed to Tenten and Karui. “Versus…those two.” She pointed to Lee and Neji.

            Karui whispered low in Tenten’s ear. “If Neji gets on Lee’s shoulders, I’ll let you get on mine.”

            “What?” said Tenten, not sure what Karui was implying.

            Lee and Neji really didn’t want to fight Tenten. They didn’t want to hurt her or be the reason she lost, but they wanted to win too. They decided Neji would get on Lee’s shoulders, thinking Tenten would be less likely to go up against Neji that way.

            They were in for a surprise. Tenten climbed on Karui’s shoulders, took a deep breath and went head to head with Neji.

            Neji stared at his best friend. She had an intenseness in her eyes he’d never seen before. For once he was nervous. _“Where do I grab her?”_ he thought to himself, blushing at the implication.          

            Before he could answer, Tenten took him by surprise, giving a hard shove to his shoulders and knocking him off Lee and into the water.

            Neji stuck his head up, still in shock. Kiba laughed.

            Tenten was off of Karui’s shoulders now and they were high fiving. Lee was congratulating them on their victory, he didn’t seem too sad to lose to Tenten.

            Lee sat on the edge of the pool, eager to see the rest of the fights.

            “Okay, next up we have –“ Fuu started

            “Hey!” Neji said, now angry about the loss. “Why do you get to pick who’s going up against each other if you’re also competing.”

            Fuu hadn’t thought about it. “I guess that’s unfair. But no one else said they’d do it.”

            “I’ll do it!” Said Lee.

            Fuu looked around the rest of the pool, the people who competed and lost were only half paying attention, the ones who wanted no part of it didn’t pay attention at all. “Fair enough!” Fuu decided.

            “Alright!” Said Lee enthusiastically. “You and your partner, versus…” Lee noticed Sakura hadn’t gone yet. He wanted to make sure she knew he hadn’t forgotten she was a competitor. The words came out of his mouth without thinking. “Sakura and Naruto’s cousin!”

            Karin blanched. “Are you serious? We’ll never beat Kimimaro’s team.”

            Sakura looked at them. The boy was much larger and stronger looking than the two of them, and the girl was at least half a foot taller.

            “I’ll be on Kimimaro’s shoulders so we’re more evenly matched!” said Fuu, who wanted to give the younger girls a chance.

            Kimimaro agreed. Karin was a nice girl, she stayed out of trouble, unless Suigetsu was involved. She deserved a chance.

            Karin still didn’t look so sure.

            “I’ll get on your shoulders.” Sakura insisted. “We’ve got this.”

            Sakura and Fuu grappled for a long time, it was a stalemate. Fuu was impressed with how strong this little girl was, but eventually, height had to mean something.

            Kimimaro wanted to go to the next round, so he could put the four in their place. He brought himself closer to Karin, letting Fuu knock Sakura off her shoulders much easier.

            “Good try Sakura! Way to hang in there Karin!” Naruto said clapping for his friends.

            “Why does he have to draw attention to the fact we lost?” Sakura asked Karin flatly.

            “He’s not.” Karin was a little annoyed. “Naruto cares, he saw how much effort we put in and he wants to know we’re recognized.”

            “Next up!” Lee yelled out. “Naruto and Kiba, versus…” he pointed to Kankuro and Temari. “Those two!”

            Temari didn’t look happy. They wouldn’t be stopping Gaara from hurting some poor kids this round.

            Kankuro saw her look. “What did you expect? Even if we went up against Gaara then we’d be the ones spoiling his fun if he lost. Do you want that?”

            Temari sighed. “Let’s just do it.”

            She got on Kankuro’s shoulders.

            After grappling with Kiba for what seemed like forever, she was knocked down. She and Kankuro just weren’t nearly as interested knowing they couldn’t stop their brother.

            The last to fight were Sasuke and Suigetsu and Gaara and Matsuri.

            They both waited to see who would go on whose shoulders. Sasuke and Gaara both wanted to fight each other. Finally Sasuke got tired of waiting and demanded he go on Suigetsu’s shoulders.

            Suigetsu shrugged and let him climb up.

            Gaara demanded Matsuri be the base for him.

            She was a little confused and sad she couldn’t get on Gaara’s shoulders, it was just for fun, after all. She didn’t understand why he was taking it so seriously.

            Gaara knew no one else would partner with him _but_ Matsuri. He’d take what he could get, but he had a sinking feeling they would lose.

            His theory was proven correct when he and Sasuke grappled, evenly matched, but Matsuri’s shoulders gave out and Gaara fell into the water. He wished he could wipe the smug grin off Sasuke’s face. Naruto better kick his ass later.

            “Gaara I’m sorry –“ Matsuri started.

            Gaara glared at her, he expected this to happen, he really can’t be _that_ mad. “I acknowledge your apology.” Gaara said, a hint of awkwardness adding warmth to his cold voice.

            Masturi winced.

            “Nice try, Gaara.” Kankuro tried to comfort his brother.

            Gaara shot him a glare.

            “I did my best.” Masturi said to Temari, out of earshot of Gaara.

            Temari gave her a hug. Matsuri was a nice girl and it hurt Temari to see Gaara treat her poorly.

            Lee shook off the chill in the air and announced the next team. “Next up, Naruto and Kiba versus the Sakon and Kidomaru.”

            Sakon and Kidomaru were both older, taller, and stronger than Naruto and Kiba, but they never let that stop them before. Naruto grappled with Kidomaru as Kiba inched closer to Sakon below.

            It was certainly a challenge trying to take someone down who has four extra arms, and it made Kidomaru arrogant. He stopped trying and eventually, Naruto was able to knock him off of Sakon’s shoulders with ease.

            Kimimaro laughed as he saw the two older boys fall to their hubris. Jiroubo and Tayuya joined in.

            “You just lost to a kid!” Jiroubo laughed.

            Karma had a way of knocking The Four on their ass and this time was no exception. Lee called out that the next match would be Kimimaro and Fuu against Tayuya and Jiroubo.

            “This is going to be so much fun!” Fuu called. “Give it your best shot Tayuya!”

            “No problem here.” Tayuya grinned at her. Then she directed her attention to Jiroubo. “Listen Fatass, you better give this everything you’ve got.”

            Jiroubo nodded in understanding. No victory would be sweeter than defeating Kimimaro.

            The girls got on the boys’ shoulders and grappled. Jiroubo had height on Kimimaro, but not strength. While Tayuya and Fuu were evenly matched, Kimimaro inched closer, pushing Jiroubo back.

            “Concentrate, Fatass!” Tayuya snapped at him. The momentary lapse in attention caused Fuu to gain the upper hand and knock Tayuya off Jiroubo’s shoulders and into the water.

            Fuu got off of Kimimaro’s shoulders and he gracefully helped Tayuya out from where she fell.

            She spit out a mouthful of water.

            Kimimaro grimaced at the unladylike display.

            She glared at him and opened her mouth to speak.

            He put an arm on her shoulder and lowered himself so his mouth was level with her ear. “If you make a scene, there will be consequences.”

            If looks could kill, he would’ve been drawn and quartered.

            The only group left to go was Sasuke and Suigetsu versus Karui and Tenten. Karui got on her partner’s shoulders and Suigetsu did the same. While the girls put up a good fight, Sasuke and Suigetsu were stronger, knocking Karui into the water.

            Karui looked at Tenten, they both shrugged at each other and got out of the water to sit with their friends.

            “Great effort Tenten!” Lee said enthusiastically.

            Neji did his best not to look at her.

            She noticed. “What’s that look all about?”

            “How are you supposed to keep competing when there are 3 teams and you need an even number?” Neji grumbled loud enough for Lee to hear. It was the truth, but Tenten knew it wasn’t what he was really upset about.

            Still, Neji caught Lee’s attention and Lee asked the teams what they wanted to do about it.

            Kimimaro didn’t care to fight the other teams, he only got involved to put The Four in their place. He asked Fuu if she cared to continue, she said she was ready to stop if he was.

            It only left Naruto and Sasuke’s teams to face off. Of course, Sasuke got to be on top of Suigetsu’s shoulders. But Naruto and Kiba got into an argument about it, it didn’t last long, because it was cut off by a whistle dangling gently from Itachi’s mouth.

            Sasuke glared daggers at his older brother. “This isn’t over.” He hissed at Naruto.

            “Hey you little punks, pool time is over, get out.” Kisame called.

            “Glad it ended before someone got seriously hurt.” Hana mumbled with a sigh. She wasn’t a fan of the idea of chicken fighting in the first place. She was really happy Hinata wasn’t there either, she had a funny feeling that either Naruto or Kiba, even though they meant well, would pressure her into participating in the chicken fight. At least she could count on Shino to be the voice of reason. “Okay girls, let’s go get cleaned up, I’m sure none of you want this chlorine on your skin for much longer.”

            After they all showered, Hinata’s bunkmates met her back in the cabin. She was sitting on the bed, swinging her legs and looking down nervously.

            Ino burst through the door and put her hands on Hinata’s shoulders. “What happened? Did you get in trouble when Kurenai learned you weren’t sick?”

            “No,” Hinata blushed. “I told her what was really going on and she just took me into town to get a new swimsuit…and a few new bras.”

            Ino saw the bag in the corner and inspected one of them. “These are damn good bras. Lucky you.”

            “Wait,” started Karin confused, “When’s the last time you bought a bra?”

            “Last year.” Hinata hid her head, looking down even further.

            “How did you hide those things for so long?” asked Karin.

            “Not appropriate!” Sakura reminded everyone as Hinata turned beet red.

            “I mostly just wore sports bras, they’re a little tight but I managed, and I wear a lot of baggy clothes…I just feel most comfortable in them.”

            “You could stand to show off a little. Take pride in your appearance.”

            “Ino.” Sakura chided.

            “Fine.” Ino rolled her eyes. “Let’s go to lunch. I know Sai is dying to see me.” Ino spun around and modeled her black tank top and jean shorts.


End file.
